Safety Awakening – “The Key To Safety”

August 22, 2014 No Comments

“The Key To Safety”

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I have four grown children.  When they were growing up I had one unbreakable rule that I drilled into their heads.  One rule that I would never allow to be broken.  One rule that if violated, there’d be hell to pay.  That simple rule was “do not drink and drive”.

While my sons and daughter would occasionally drink in excess, they’d never drink and drive.  Now in their 30’s, none have ever been in a serious car accident or driven while drunk.

“Don’t drink and drive” is a metaphor that applies to the workplace too.  The real issue is not just drinking and driving per se, it’s doing any potentially dangerous job while impaired or distracted by anything.

Employees should not perform any hazardous job when impaired or distracted.  The following are just a few examples of things that can impair a workers ability to pay attention, be careful, and focus on the task at hand:

• alcohol
• drugs (illegal, prescription, over-the-counter)
• lack of sleep / fatique
• illness/injury
• death or illness in the family
• marital problems/divorce
• financial problems
• off the job arguments
• family problems

As a part of the pre-hire screening process, HR should try to identify employees with the above types of distractions and not to place them in dangerous jobs.

Supervisors should be trained in how to identify on the job impairment caused by the above types of distractions.

Employees should be encouraged to report fellow employees that they believe are distracted or impaired at work.

If a current employee starts having these types of distractions affect their job, the employer should get the employee professional third-party help and temporarily transfer the employee to a safer job.

If the third-party service provider is unable to solve the problem, and long-term transfer to a less dangerous job is not possible, consideration should be given to terminating the employee.  Leaving an employee on a dangerous job who is unable to focus on the task at hand is inviting a serious accident.

Awakenings