7 Safety Habits That Could Save Your Life

36 Pages·2008·0.694 MB·English

by  Wilson Bateman

7 SAFETY HABITS
THAT COULD
SAVE YOUR
LIFE
By Wilson Bateman

Published by Acanthus Publishing
a division of The Ictus Group, LLC
343 Commercial St
Unit 214, Union Wharf
Boston, MA 02109

©2008 Global Training Edge Inc. All rights reserved in all media
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
ISBN: 978-0-9815589-4-3
www.AcanthusPublishing.com
Cover photos ©2008 Jupiter Images Corporation
All other images ©2008 Global Training Edge, Inc.
Table of Contents
1 Habit #1 — Think, Safety’s HARD
5 Habit #2 — Wear the Gear
9 Habit #3 — Avoid the Shortcuts
13 Habit #4 — Send the Message
18 Habit #5 — Support the Team
21 Habit #6 — R ecognize the Name Blame
Shame Game
24 Habit #7 — Be Proactive and Protective
29 Bio
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The 7 Safety Habits
That Could Save Your Life Are:
1 Think, Safety’s HARD
2 Wear the Gear
3 Avoid the Shortcuts
4 Send the Message
5 Support the Team
6 Recognize the Name Blame
Shame Game
7 Be Proactive and Protective
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Habit #1 Think, Safety’s HARD
The phrase “Think, Safety’s Hard” may sound a bit simple and irreverent, and c.
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how we view the practice of safety. I’ve spent the last 20 years speaking and E
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presenting on the importance of safety and I’ve learned that, indeed, safety ni
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can be hard. It’s demanding, challenging, time consuming, and mustn’t be T
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Many people assume that practicing safety falls under the umbrella of com-
mon sense. They consider safety to be second nature — something that takes
care of itself once they know the basics. Granted, some safety issues do take
care of themselves, but as a general rule, the more you underestimate the
importance of safety the greater your chances of being exposed to potentially
dangerous and unnecessary risks.
Is safety one of your values? Do you take the follow-
ing fundamental precautions when performing these
everyday tasks?
• Cut the grass with steel toed boots, eye protection and hearing protection?
• Use hearing protection when operating a brush trimmer?
• Use eye protection when operating heavy machinery?
• Purchase snow tires for your vehicle during winter?
• Drive using the 3 second rule?
• Wear a helmet when riding your bike?
If you answered “no” to one or more of the previous safety questions, then
you probably consider such precautions to be tedious or unnecessary. And
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you’re not alone. Many people fail to follow important safety procedures for n
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one simple reason: Safety is hard. g
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Just as practicing safety is not an easy task, teaching safety is rarely an effort- ai
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less endeavor. Imagine the awkwardness involved in advising your neighbor al
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on the safest way to operate his new lawnmower. How would your sister re- Gl
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spond if you began to evaluate her driving skills and judged them to be unsafe? 0
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There are plenty of reasons for neglecting important safety procedures.
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We’ve all heard the following popular excuses:
• “I’ve done it this way a thousand times.”
• “Something like that won’t happen to me.”
• “I don’t have time to worry about that.”
• “I look like an idiot in goggles and a helmet.”
It’s human nature to create some type of rationale, no matter how flimsy, in
order to justify our reckless behavior. For example, if an individual fails to
maintain a healthy diet while claiming “I don’t have the time to worry about
that,” then the result is often health problems related to obesity. Unfortu-
nately, similar faulty excuses are commonly applied to the practice of safety.
In fact, excuses for unsafe behavior are as popular as they are dangerous. If
your reckless sister has “driven this way a thousand times,” without accident,
it’s more likely a result of good luck rather than sound safety practices. And,
with regard to that neighbor who dismisses your tips on lawnmower safety
while insisting that “something like that won’t happen to me,” he should con-
sider the fact that every year in America about 80,000 people are hospitalized
with burns, cuts, and even amputations as a result of lawnmower injuries.1
When it comes to practicing safety, easy excuses are just that. The hard ques-
tions you have to ask yourself are: “How can I make safety a value? What will
it take for me to try harder? How will I start to live a safer lifestyle?”
Safety is HARD means: c.
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-Hazard E
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-Assessment ni
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1 http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/press_releases/2006/bishai_lawnmower.html 3
The Safety Cue Card is a good place to start. It’s a simple and convenient tool
you can use to provide basic risk assessment in your day-to-day activities.

The Safety
“Cue” Card
1 What are the hazards?
2 What are the risks?
3 What could go wrong?
4 What controls are required?
5 What do I need to do?
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© 2008 Global Training Edge
Each of the five questions listed on the Safety Cue Card should be addressed
before embarking on your daily tasks. Place the cards in highly-visible and
easily-accessible locations such as on your refrigerator, dresser, desk, or in
your car. Before you know it, posing these questions will become habitual.
While the Safety Cue Card can be an important introductory tool, it repre-
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sents only a fraction of the safety equation. Making safety a value is a learning e, I
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process that needs to be ingrained into your everyday conscience. It’s not Ed
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always straightforward. Certainly, Safety is Hard, and recognizing this by tak- n
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ing on all challenges is the key to living a lifestyle that’s out of harm’s way. Tr
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Habit #2 Wear the Gear
Once you’ve realized that living safely requires a proactive approach, it’s c.
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your responsibility to take over the controls. In doing so, you need to take e, I
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every preventative measure to ensure your own safety and the safety of oth- E
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ers. To do this successfully you must equip yourself with the necessary pro- ni
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tective gear, surround yourself with the proper safeguards, and make use of Tr
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all safety provisions that are available to you. o
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