Safety Reps & The Why x 5 Question

[brothermagrew]

Why, why, why, why, why?

Health and safety approaches that focus on workers' behaviour condemn workers as the problem. Unions see workers as the solution. There is no one better to identify the hazards on a job, or come up with ideas to eliminate or reduce those hazards, than the worker doing that job. If a job is being done "unsafely," a good rule of thumb is to "ask 'why?' five times."


For example:

Andrea got something in her eye at work.
But why?

Because she wasn't wearing her safety glasses.
But why?

Because they were all scratched up and she couldn't see out of them.
But why?

Because her employer bought the really cheap glasses that get scratched all the time.
But why?

Because her employer wanted to save money.
But why?

Because profits are more important to her employer than worker safety and health.


Asking "why" questions allows an inquiry to get to root causes – the source of the problem that will need to change in order to bring about a safer workplace. Unions can then strategise about what it would take to get an employer to purchase adequate personal protective equipment, or use engineering controls to eliminate the need for workers to wear personal protective equipment, or in some other way make the workplace safer. An approach that blames workers for their "bad behaviour" thwarts real prevention efforts. It's management behaviour that is putting workers' health and lives at risk, and management behaviour that must change in order to achieve safe and healthy workplaces.

Instead of having a focus on identifying hazards and eliminating or reducing them, the emphasis of a behavioural safety programme is on getting workers to work around hazards that shouldn't be there in the first place. Workers are supposed to duck, dodge, lift safely, wear personal protective equipment... When a worker is injured, it is his or her fault for not working carefully enough. Discipline can become management's preferred response to worker injury.

Even in cases where a behavioural safety programmme is implemented with assurances that there will be no discipline, workers can face inquisitions when they report injuries to determine what "unsafe behaviours" they were engaging in. Workers avoid these inquisitions by ceasing to report accidents and injuries. When injuries aren't reported, hazards don't get identified or corrected.

[fedup postie]

I fully agree with you that Management are to blame for a lot of our issues around H&S however, whilst asking the WHY question, it has to be asked why our members cut corners to save a few minutes here and there. Why our members decide to pull two yorks at a time. Why our members decide to ignore safe practices and rush to get the job done that much quicker!

I know the response above may not be appeciated by many people but we have a powerful tool with H&S if only we used it to it's full potential.
If the job is unsafe, dont do it! Simple
Involve your H&S rep and get it sorted. Dont rush around to save a few mins here and there, take your time, do the job properly.

Yes there will still be things that management try to push onto us which could cause harm but remember we are responsible for our own health and safety as well so it is time we stood up for ourselves and stopped the practices that cause so many problems.

Remember, a manager will allow an unsafe practice to continue until someone gets hurt and then turn around and say "Well, I have briefed them that they should not be doing that!"