height=354 Being a company that recruits industrial management and trades people for large mines, equipment suppliers, power utilities and construction companies, we are very aware of the safety issues at all work sites. I still remember receiving the call about one of our placements who was injured on the job when he was crushed by a large piece of equipment. It was the most severe injury I had seen but the number of people I know who have been severly injured on the job with their previous employers runs into the hundreds.
Anyone who has been in industrial settings knows of lots of near misses and people who have been severely injured. Why isn’t safety one of the first questions in an interview and why isn’t it more important to companies? Accidents can be prevented and there are lots of companies that have gotten to a point where no one gets hurt. Heavy Duty Mechanics missing fingers and even arms, power linemen who have been electrocuted and carpenters missing fingers. This should not happen, and we all need to make safety a priority.
British Columbia just instituted a lower blood alcohol limit, which people complain about, if they knew the thousands of people whose lives of have been shattered by people having one or two more, they would be complaining it should have been lowered to 0.00.
Every interview should include detailed behavioural based questions about peoples experience with safety. What steps have they taken in past jobs to ensure the safety of others? What action did they take when they last saw a co-worker or others doing something that was unsafe? Several questions should be the minimum for each interview.
Safety should be part of every day, in and out of the office. I have been guilty of putting together drills in an unsafe manner when I was younger and doing a litany of unsafe things. Just last month I saw the results of not taking safety seriously when an early October camp fire from the night before turned into an extreme forest fire in minutes. The little things we do can quickly grow to endanger people if we are not focused on prevention…
Anyone who has been in industrial settings knows of lots of near misses and people who have been severely injured. Why isn’t safety one of the first questions in an interview and why isn’t it more important to companies? Accidents can be prevented and there are lots of companies that have gotten to a point where no one gets hurt. Heavy Duty Mechanics missing fingers and even arms, power linemen who have been electrocuted and carpenters missing fingers. This should not happen, and we all need to make safety a priority.
British Columbia just instituted a lower blood alcohol limit, which people complain about, if they knew the thousands of people whose lives of have been shattered by people having one or two more, they would be complaining it should have been lowered to 0.00.
Every interview should include detailed behavioural based questions about peoples experience with safety. What steps have they taken in past jobs to ensure the safety of others? What action did they take when they last saw a co-worker or others doing something that was unsafe? Several questions should be the minimum for each interview.
Safety should be part of every day, in and out of the office. I have been guilty of putting together drills in an unsafe manner when I was younger and doing a litany of unsafe things. Just last month I saw the results of not taking safety seriously when an early October camp fire from the night before turned into an extreme forest fire in minutes. The little things we do can quickly grow to endanger people if we are not focused on prevention…