I do not believe that a month has past where I did
not make the statement that “every accident is
preventable.” I am sure that I agree with this; if
you say something enough times eventually you do
come to believe it. But is this really an accurate
declaration?
Safety personnel always find this coming up in
conversations with employees, usually after the
preventable just took place. The Law of Cause &
Effect (also known as the law of action and reaction)
states “this is an orderly universe. There are no
accidents. Everything happens for a reason. For
every effect there is a set of causes.” This seems
simple enough. Let’s see how it applies to every day
actions.
A man walking on a sidewalk is hit by a car
that jumps the curve. He was doing what he
anticipated to be a safe action; the
sidewalk is for pedestrians and the road is
for the automobiles. This is an accident to
him; however, the driver of the car could
have certainly
prevented the |
|
accident by
paying
closer attention,
saying “no” to that last
beer, staying within the speed limit, etc.
In this case, prevention was not
within the control of
the man who was hit, but it
was reasonable. Look at your own work place
or home accidents and ask “how was this
preventable”, not “was this preventable.”
As employers, we make every
effort to give our employees the tools to
succeed. These tools may be tangible, such
as new equipment or safety glasses. But more
importantly, they need to have and retain
the knowledge to work safely and see the big
picture. A dust mask will help prevent dust
from getting into your respiratory tract.
Minimizing the amount of dust through
ventilation or wetting will remove the
hazard and is the safer choice. Preventing
accidents is achieved by removing their
causes; this I do believe. |