Common sense, where is it?
Why is it so difficult to understand how to anchor correctly to avoid a fatal fall? Why is this not common sense?
Comments (12)
Thinking about all your comments, I've arrived to my own conclusion about what really is the "common sense". And my conclusion is that Common Sense is the abstract from all the knowledgement achived by a person and modified by himself. So, maybe the picture shows the common sense of a worker who was teached about the mandatory to be anckoraged to a solid spot; that's all. Obviously the recived trainning was fully non-correct, because didn't achived a good knowledgment, istead a unsafety behaviour at work.
It makes you wonder if the person who told them to tie off even understood the proper way to do it. It could also be complacency, in a way they can say they tied off even if it isn’t done safely. It just looks more annoying the way they have it.
Yikes…
I would question the training and safety management system in place. Why would an employee think this is okay? Likely because their training was inadequate. Are employees empowered to stop work for safety concerns? There are a few potential root causes here, but I don’t think “common sense” is it.
In my opinion, the phrase “common sense” should be completely left out of the workplace. In order for it to be common sense, they have to essentially of “been there” or “done that”. In many cases like this, as Abby mentioned, it comes from a lack of a proper training program. We’re they trained at all? If so, were they trained properly on how to identify proper anchorage? That’s why it’s important that we use these moments as coaching moments to show them the proper way to do it, but also figure out what went wrong. No policy? Improper or lack of training? No enforcement? Simply gave them a harness and essentially said “here, wear this!”? Lots of potential to reasons.
Nice picture to be shown to employees during a safety meeting relating to fall protection.
Thanks for sharing!
That’s on management for not training them. Before I worked in safety I constantly did stuff like this simply because I wasn’t trained. I look back and cringe every once in a while though haha. Maybe someday I’ll share some stories
Someone once told them to tie off, and didn’t give them much instruction beyond that. That’s the problem, and that’s why common sense hasn’t been established. People aren’t born with it…
Is this your picture and if so do you mind if I use it in my fall protection training?
I don’t like to use the common sense approach. Everyone will behave in different ways depending on the situation. Is the employee here rushing to complete a task and not thinking about the consequences? Has the employee been properly trained on PFAS and elevated work requirements? How often is the employee conducting elevated work? Is there a supervisor that watches him work? I think there are many different explanations for all scenarios regarding safety and production work.