150 Workers Die Each Day From Doing Their Jobs

[badtoworse]

2. The situation isn't that simple

Occupations like heavy construction are inherently dangerous and even with the best Personal Protection Equipment ("PPE&quot , the risk of death or serious injury can't be completely eliminated. The problem many times is that the PPE is available, its use is required, but a worker doesn't use it. I've worked heavy construction and I can't tell you how many time I've seen workers using loud equipment or working in a high noise environment without using hearing protection (I did that myself when I was younger, which is one reason I have tinnitus today). Same issue with not using fall protection when working at a dangerous height. A good safety officer will throw such a worker off the job, if the failure to use PPE is not noticed and the worker is killed or injured, whose fault is it?

I've spent my career in the electric power business and can tell you that safety is an obsession with power professionals. Every company at which I've worked had a well designed health and safety plan that included mandatory use of PPE. Plant workers were paid a bonus based on achieving operational goals and one of those goals was not having any OSHA Recordable or Lost Time Accidents. Plant workers and management both take great pride in their "Days Since the Last Lost Time Accident" with the stat prominently displayed and regularly updated.