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Thứ Sáu, 25 tháng 10, 2013

Simple Safety Vests Can Save Lives

By Elena McDowell


The costs incurred when employees are injured on the job are difficult for any business to handle. Not surprisingly, there has been considerable study and universal acceptance of the notion that preventing injuries is worth expending resources to accomplish. One would think that something as reasonable as a wearing safety vests would be a simple thing to introduce to the workforce, but that is not always so.

A big misconception is that those professionals charged with preventing mishaps are responsible for making the workplace safe, meaning devoid of the possibility of damage, injury or death. In reality their responsibility is to manage risk, and the way they do that is to identify those risks and develop recommended strategies for mitigation. These they organize and present to leadership for a decision.

An additional problem for leadership is that people, in general, have an enduring sense that they are immune from most common injuries. The natural learning process for people from childhood on is based largely on trial and error. With all the cuts scrapes and bruises incurred during development, the notion that one may get injured, but will recover without problem is well ingrained, and diminishes the need for overt caution.

In addition, people have come to expect thrilling or dangerous situations to be a part of their entertainment experiences. It is the reason that the more dangerous a ride sounds, the more popular it becomes, and marketing agencies are fully engaged in promoting such excitement. Sound bites exuding the speed, height and gravity defying characteristics of a new ride spell dollars to any theme park.

Not all of the rejection is predicated on spite, people have a natural feeling that the kinds of injuries and mishaps targeted in the work environment require are prevented by common sense. The idea they have become the focus of attention is due to recurrence is not accepted as a normal event, but the result of buffoonery at some level. The preventive measure is then sensed as punishment for the incompetence of others.

In the animal kingdom, there are mating rituals which pit competing males against one another in the hopes of impressing the female of the species. The general understanding is that the winner of such extreme contests is the bigger and stronger specimen, and therefore more likely to have superior survival genetics. While such human rituals are not as dramatic, there is still an ingrained need for teenage boys to demonstrate bravado.

All of these flaws combine in a workforce to make it more difficult to remove the risk of injury from the employment environment. In addition to the difficulty in maintaining control over often dangerous environments, the professional also has to address the intentional resistance of employees. IN a few instances personal protective gear has won widespread acceptance, but that is the exception.

In reality, nearly every piece of protective equipment has faced a steep uphill climb for acceptance, almost all are universally eschewed when introduced. The challenge is to devise equipment that is not burdensome and does not make the user appear somehow cowardly. It is a shame that when something as simple as a safety vest can save lives, it is so difficult to get workers to wear them consistently.




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