It’s Our Own Responsibility

What with all the government safety regulations as well as company policies and procedures, it’s easy to forget that safety is primarily a personal responsibility. Workplaces can be covered with warning signs, safety posters, and bulletin boards.

Safeguards can be installed on each piece of equipment. We can attend training sessions and be told of safe ways to do work, but none of these things can ensure freedom from accidents unless we want to prevent them. It’s up to us!

Unless we realize that our own actions determine whether accidents happen—and until we accept responsibility for these actions—injuries will occur.

Who puts tools and equipment into motion and controls their movements? Who but ourselves can control the placement of our bodies, the movement of our arms, legs, and eyes, and—most important—the activity of our brains?

One’s ability to control his or her own actions carries with it the responsibility not to let these actions harm co-workers.

Being Accountable!

Machines do not reach out and bite. Tripping hazards don’t grab a person’s feet. Hand tools don’t slice and jab into flesh by themselves. Yet, judging from the statements people use to describe their injuries, one would think that the tools and equipment they use were alive.

It’s apparent that the people who make such statements are not fully aware that they are accountable for their own actions and must accept the responsibility for them. Little can be done to prevent their accidents and injuries until they do accept this responsibility. Many accidents are prevented, it is true, when OSHA standards and the boss’s requirements are met. But when each individual employee brings an acceptance of personal responsibility and accountability into the workplace every day, everyone’s risk of injury drops dramatically.

Consider a cargo handler who steps into the cab of a tractor, slips, and scrapes a leg against the door—causing a deep cut requiring stitches. Investigation reveals that the nonskid surface on the cab floor was badly worn and slippery.

What caused this accident? An irresponsible individual would lay the blame on the physical condition of the tractor and might ask, "Why wasn’t the cab floor reported for repair?" A person who accepts responsibility would have reported it.

Hard luck, the conduct of other people, inadequate tools, and unfavorable conditions are just a few of the favorite reasons immature, irresponsible people use to absolve themselves of personal accountability when things go wrong.

Accepting responsibility for our own actions, on the other hand, is a sign of maturity. It means we believe firmly that it’s up to us to do everything we can to prevent accidents. No one else can accept our safety responsibility for us.