{"id":12571,"date":"2014-08-06T00:38:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T04:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.atlantictraining.com\/blog\/?p=12571"},"modified":"2021-06-24T04:49:33","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T04:49:33","slug":"office-safety-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.atlantictraining.com\/blog\/office-safety-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Office Safety Programs a Waste of Time and Money?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Big companies are expanding their safety programs to their office settings \u2013 so says a recent, nationally published article. The stated goal: Get everyone thinking about safety. Is this really going to help?<\/p>\n

The other day, a colleague forwarded to me a link to a\u00a0Wall Street Journal<\/em> article, \u201cSafety cops patrol the office for high heels.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gist of it: Safety is no longer just for the manufacturing plants, oil fields, slaughter houses, construction sites, warehouses, etc. Joe and Jane Officeworker are also now expected to remember that \u201cSafety is No. 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

The piece states:<\/p>\n

\u201cNow field-inspired safety protocols are migrating to the office, where hazards include dripping umbrellas, the height of high heels and hot cups of coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll say upfront that we don\u2019t mean to make light of potential hazards caused by people shaking off their rain-soaked umbrellas indoors over a tile floor. We know it\u2019s a recipe for a serious injury.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s interesting about the article is that some\u00a0of the large companies mentioned have had their fair share of serious, multiple-fatality incidents just in the last decade.<\/p>\n

So companies that had significant safety failures are now working so hard on safety that they\u2019re bringing their programs into office settings?<\/p>\n

Yep.<\/p>\n

Does this seem like too much of a good thing to you? If so, you\u2019re not alone. In fact, a federal safety agency has warned about this syndrome more than once.<\/p>\n

Sweating the small stuff<\/h2>\n

A\u00a0U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigation of the\u00a0Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 workers chastised BP and its business partner Transocean for focusing on just this sort of thing. The CSB report said the two companies were sweating the small stuff<\/a> while major process safety hazards were going unchecked.<\/p>\n

On the day of the explosion in 2010, BP and Transocean had held an event to praise workers for a low rate of personal injuries. We\u2019re talking hours before the fatal explosion.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not like no one warned BP about this previously. At its\u00a0Texas City refinery where 15 workers were killed in an explosion in 2005, contract workers had just returned to temporary trailers at the plant after attending a celebratory lunch commending an excellent personal injury record. Shortly after the lunch, the explosion occurred, killing workers in the trailers.<\/p>\n

BP isn\u2019t mentioned in the Wall Street Journal<\/em> article, but other large companies with recent safety disasters are:<\/p>\n