Patience is not always my forte – especially when I see the urgent need to change habits, attitudes and behaviors in regards to safety. Every day that goes by without a change in safety habits makes me nervous and I feel that I am closer to the day when something really bad will happen on one of the jobsites. As necessary changes in the standards take years to be developed and implemented, I believe it is up to us, the safety professionals, the safety instructors, the risk control managers in insurance companies, to step up and do what needs to be done, no matter whether it is supported by a standard or not. Standards are good, but they are only the minimum requirements and we can all do better than that!
Here is a prime example for the need for change and how long it took to implement the change.
In 1999, OSHA developed “interim” guidelines for residential fall protection. Unfortunately, it took 12 years to push through a new fall protection standard. In the twelve years, thousands of workers died in falls while performing work on residential buildings. No new standard can bring their lives back. Although it is laudable that residential construction now has the same stringent standards as in commercial construction, it is sad that we need so many years to deal with political catfights and lobbyists before the right thing is being done – setting standards to provide as much guidance for the protection of our workers. Of course, we still have to overcome the attitude of people that nothing has happened before, and, please, why should it happen now, that the work has been done this way for decades and there is no other way to perform the work, or that it will be much more expensive and a company will not be competitive anymore.
Luckily, the last comment is now obsolete, because all companies have to comply with the standards now and will need to think about fall prevention, how hazards can be engineered out or, if that is not possible, purchase fall protection gear and become knowledgeable about the many safety products available. However, just as ironworkers are a tough bunch, it will take time to change attitudes and bad habits. That is easier said than done. Think about one or two of your own habits that you know you should change/give up, whether it is smoking or drinking, putting things on the to-do list off for an extended period of time (changing the batteries in the smoke detectors, for example) or whether it is something less dangerous like leaving the toilet seat up. We are creatures of habit, but once we have become used to a routine it is very difficult to change that and it really takes hard work.
Below are some helpful links to OSHA’ powerpoint presentation and the compliance assistance guidelines.
