Rules to Live By

• You’ve heard extensive talk about a safety culture that promotes a safe workplace where employees take ownership of their personal safety, as well as others.
• You’ve heard about the need for safety at home, work, and play and how important it is to go home to your loved ones every day.
• You’ve heard discussions about the big 4 or focus four hazards that cause the most fatalities in the workplace.
• You’ve heard discussions stemmed from a lack of training, and the need for an employee to seek the training.

Now let’s talk about some rules that continue to promote the safety message and foster a safe place to work.

Prevent All Falls — Slips, trips, and falls are a leading cause of workplace accidents and injuries. If we know the hazard and are aware of the consequences, why do we still expose ourselves to falls? People believe that it will not happen to them. Do your part and eliminate the fall exposure by engineering it away. If that is not possible, use guardrails. Use personal fall protection, but just don’t fall! We can minimize the risk by cleaning up
the spills, even if it is not yours. Watch your footing and use the handrail to minimize tripping. Pick up any clutter and properly stack materials so it’s not a hazard.

De-Energize and Lockout / Tagout EVERYTHING — If you are working on a piece of machinery or electrical panel or circuit, it is very difficult to determine the danger since we cannot always see the hazard. Rules are that you must lockout and tagout all devices when a worker is exposed to contact. Turning off the electric will work as long as no one turns it back on. Simply pressing the stop button might stop it now, but what will it do if the start button is pressed? Keep it simple and safe for everyone and simply lockout and tagout then try it out for verification

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Always — PPE may be hot, cumbersome, bulky, uncomfortable, and not easy to use but it has a purpose. PPE is the last line of defense. We do not eliminate the risk but merely manage the risk as the hazard still exists. If the PPE does its job, the exposure is minimal. Follow the company policy and wear your PPE, ALWAYS!

No Risk, No Failures — If a worker does not expose themselves to a hazard then the risk is managed, if not entirely eliminated. A core value and vision should be safety always and zero injuries. We all need to do our part and prevent a risky situation from occurring. Safety always is ALWAYS!
For Safety’s Sake, Do Something — Safety is not just about protecting yourself, but also protecting others. We must make every possible attempt to protect the entire work area, and all of those in it, for safety to be a true success. It will do no good to prevent your own accident if you allow another to exist. There is a moral obligation to protect other people and it should be an important part of what we ALL do. Say something to someone else to prevent an incident from occurring. Spread the message of an observed hazard and realize that safety does not have a quitting time nor does it discriminate. Remember, it could be you.

Determine your level of commitment.
In order to understand safety, we must ask ourselves some questions to determine the “Why” we do things that are unsafe. “Why” do we take risk when there is so much to lose?

1. What does safety mean to you?
2. What does safety mean to your family?
3. What does safety mean to your team?
4. What should safety look like to SSOE?
5. What does the client expect for safety?