Where's Safety

Sometimes it seems that smaller companies don’t always take safety seriously. Now, I am not saying that every small company shoves safety to the side, but some do. I’m sure that many of you that read my blogs probably say the same thing – and, unfortunately, it tends to be the truth. For some reason, many companies just don’t want to invest the money to keep their businesses and employees safe.

Many companies think they can handle everything on their own. They think because a recordable accident hasn’t happened in a few months, that everything is copasetic. Again, I tell you, “It is not a question of IF an accident will happen, it is WHEN.”

In my little town, a fireworks store is being built. They cleared the site of its old building and started the process of building a new one. I must admit, I really didn’t pay too much attention to it at first. Well, I drove by it the other evening on my way to the local gas station, and I had to stop! Of course, the site was empty of their crew, but what I saw amazed me.

Their rough terrain powered industrial truck was parked with its boom lifted far out of anyone’s reach. However, attached to the forks was either a “tow strap” or “web sling” that was visibly damaged, and attached to that was their cutting torch cart. Although the cylinder caps were on both the acetylene and oxygen tanks, you still cannot have them suspended 30 feet in the air. What happens when the wind blows and it starts to sway back and forth?

Without walking the whole jobsite, I found one more huge violation that could kill or injure a worker or some curious child that stops after hours, the uncapped Rebar. Those of us in the construction industry know beyond a shadow of a doubt that all Rebar protruding vertical from your foundation needs to be capped. Too many people have been impaled from Rebar with devastating consequences.

Again, I was perplexed why a job site would have been left this way. No barriers, no signs, nothing to warn anyone of the potential hazards or keep curiosity seekers out of the area. Any injury due to these circumstances is 100% preventable! But let’s take it one step further. What do you think will happen to that small company when a child wanders on to that site after hours? I’m sure we all understand what would happen if it was our child! Not only will that child get injured or worse, but the company is going to be paying for lawyers and medical bills for a long time to come.