This Is Why I Work Safely

Working safely is a pretty common sense concept.

However, we all cut corners to get the job done quicker; when you have 100 jobs waiting for you next and crazy deadlines (I'm pretty sure it's not just at my workplace that it happens on an everyday basis), the pressure - ie. stress - makes you stupid and stops your brain from processing what you have to do properly as the blood flow is leaving your brain slowly to get your body into a "fight or flight" mode.

I am not making this up or being dramatic, it is a scientifically proven physiological reaction.

So you're overwhelmed, you can't think straight and BANG! an accident happens. It could be a near miss, a slight bump on the head, but it could also be a broken leg, crushed finger or even worse. When you fall off from the top of the stairs all the way down, it's no joke, you can potentially die instantly.

We act without thinking, just to get the task over with - when I think of the number of times at the supermarket I used to climb on the edge of the refrigerated unit to get my pack of Applewood Cheese slices from the top shelf and right at the back, it gives me goosebumps, and not the good ones. I was extremely lucky as my stupidity could have caused me serious injuries, at best. I hate food shopping and I wanted to go home quick, but that should have been no excuse.

Just over half a year ago, I went on an IOSH Health and Safety Managing Safely course for 3 days as I was asked to be the Health and Safety representative in my workplace. And what an eye opener it was! I nearly cried at the first video where a young father of a toddler and with another child on the way, fell off a scaffolding on a building site at his workplace and died instantly. In the video you then see the reaction of the young mother when she learns her husband has just died at work. So crushing. The video was obviously staged but it really opens your eyes, not only on how quickly an accident can happen, but also who it directly affects, and that it actually happens regularly in real life. So heart-breaking.

I don't know about you but, personally, I want to die of old age, in my bed, while fast asleep. I give enough of my time and energy to my work (and I do enjoy it, most of the time), but I'm not about to give them my life or health as well by getting the job done quicker so I can have even more jobs piled up on me and make me lose my marbles!

I work safely - a conscious decision I have now committed to - for these little creatures:

(my 2 furry babies, Lego and Maya, and my son James) ...because they need me more than work does, because I want to be there for them, care for them and enjoy their love and company, because they matter more than anything else in this world to me.

And this is why I work safely...