May 13, 2014
There are two extremes when it comes to safety practitioners: overly protective simpletons who see certain death lurking around every corner and those who practice “nod-and-a-wink” safety. The former are the much maligned safety cops who seem to have the singular goal of eliminating risk by eliminating work and putting the company out of business; we hear a lot about them, mostly well-deserved criticisms. The latter however, don’t get much ink, and they are perhaps even more of a threat to the credibility of the safety function than anything. Nod-and-a-wink safety practitioners manage to turn a blind eye to some seriously dangerous activities that they KNOW pose significant risk to workers and even the general public.
If You Can’t Come Up With A Solution Why Try? Nod-and-a-wink safety isn’t necessarily an evil plot; in most cases it’s not. These people are depravedly indifferent; in most cases they just don’t have a viable alternative to the current state. How many of us, when criticizing something has been asked, “do you think you can do any better?” It’s a fair question, but it doesn’t address the concern. It’s a way of shouting down the criticism without really engaging in a meaningful dialog; a way of bullying your way out of an uncomfortable or awkward conversation. “Sure it’s not the best way to do it but it’s all we got” Safety pundits, myself included, (at least to the extent that I can be called a pundit) have been preaching about the importance of the safety function enabling business instead obstructing it and the nod-and-a-wink set have taken this to heart. It’s easy to justify doing nothing in the name of cooperation. If I don’t have a safer way to do the job, it’s easier to walk away then it is to be put in the position where I alone am responsible for solving the problem. The overly zealous will fight to stop the practice even if there is no viable alternative, where as the nod-and-a-wink practitioners ignore the issue all together. A better solution is to say, “no, I don’t have a better solution, but we can’t just ignore the dangers here. Let’s work together to find an answer.” Surely Not I?!?! Too many reading this doesn’t see themselves as nod-and-a-wink practitioners when they are. It’s tough to recognize yourself or your organization when you have been looking the other way so long that it’s tough to recognize the danger any longer. Consider the following dangerous working conditions that are largely ignored by some companies:
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