Carelessness Puts Everyone In Danger

Does it drive you nuts to observe careless people? They slide out of the pickup in the parking lot trailing candy bar wrappers and coffee cup litter. Entering the plant, they let the front door slam behind them and track mud into the break room. Stepping over yesterday’s scrap on the floor, they extract a scratched pair of safety glasses from under a heap of drill bits. After picking up a power saw by the cord, they kick a cabinet door closed before starting work.

Getting rough with equipment and facilities is by no means limited to a workshop or industrial plant. In an office you have probably seen someone taking their temper out on a photocopier paper tray or crushing a computer power cord in a desk drawer.

Careless handling of tools, equipment, vehicles and stock costs your company money in repair, replacement, time and other expenses.

As well, carelessness puts you and other workers in danger. Damaged equipment is unsafe equipment. A power plug bent from having a stack of plywood leaning against it can cause an electrical short leading to a fire. An air hose weakened by a handcart running over it can break while under pressure and strike a worker in the face.

Here are some cases to encourage you to handle equipment with care:

• Dropping a hammer. A chip of the weakened metal eventually breaks off on impact and strikes a worker’s eye.
• Failing to secure a heavy grinding wheel to a forklift. The package falls and the grinder wheel gets a slight crack, putting the user at risk if it is not inspected or tested properly.
• Tossing a cutting tool into a drawer where the blade can get chipped. When the knife is being used later, it catches during the cut and the user applies extra force. The knife slips and nicks his arm.
• Leaving a chopping tool out in the weather, weakening the handle. The next time it is used, the blade flies off upon impact and narrowly misses the worker’s head.
• Letting a power tool get wet, so the insulation gets matted and does not protect anymore. The next worker to use it has sweaty hands and he gets a fatal shock.
• Pulling on a kinked chain, weakening the link. When the chain is later used to pull a load, it snaps at the weak link and whiplashes through the air.
• Reeling a wire rope incorrectly, causing breaks in the metal and fiber. The rope breaks under load and a heavy object falls from a crane.
• Driving away before fastening the pulldown door on an empty truck. The excess movement and vibration damage the door so it cannot be secured.

Maybe you are picky about other people slamming your car door too hard or using your own screwdriver for removing tile grout. Then treat company equipment with the same care you would expect people to give your own stuff. It’s a matter of safety.