Presented By: Paul Wouters
Safety as a value is about making safe work practices a habit; so not following safety rules or procedures even one time is unacceptable. When safety is held as a value, individuals feel a sense of responsibility for the safety of their co-workers as well as themselves.
Paul Wouters is a Safety Consultant for a major utility company in the Midwest. Earlier in his career, Paul was an electrical lineman and cable television technician.
Paul has a tragic story from those early days about a random act of violence in the workplace. It’s a story he would like to share with you to show the devastation of a fatality at work, and how you can make a personal commitment to safety in your daily activities. Paul will convince you to take responsibility for your own safety, teach you the importance of looking out for your co-workers, and to make a personal commitment to have safety as a value.
Paul Wouters holds an associate diploma in Electric Line Distribution from NWTC Technical College of Wisconsin.
Paul is currently employed as a Generation Safety Consultant at Wisconsin Public Service Corporation.
A date to remember...
I remember August 6th, 1986 vividly. I had planned to quit my job on that Wednesday, but when I awoke that morning I was completely unaware that my life was about to change in countless other ways.
I was only half listening when I heard someone over the company radio say “There is a guy in here with a gun shooting people.” I thought I heard wrong. After all, I was just there; there was no one in there with a gun. Why would someone say that over the company radio? It didn’t make any sense.
I learned a few things on August 6th that I want to share with you. The first thing is that you never really know what is going to happen to you on any given day. The people that I worked with all expected to go home the same way as they came into work. But an unexpected tragedy occurred and through no fault of their own, people got killed on the job.
The second thing that I learned is how great the devastation is when someone gets killed on the job. And do you know what? It doesn’t matter one bit how someone gets killed on the job. It doesn’t matter to the victim, to their family, to their friends. And while you can’t control everything you do have the power to control a lot.
The case of August 6th is unusual in that it was a random event. But each year roughly 100 people in Wisconsin just like you and me get killed on the job. Over 5,600 workers get killed each year in the U.S. and over 4.4 million workers get injured on the job. Not usually because of a random killer, but because of preventable accidents. If you look at the circumstances of most of the fatalities and injuries you will find a common theme. People involved took shortcuts doing their jobs.
Do you believe that sooner or later an accident will happen no matter what you do? In reality, people cause 96% of accidents through actions or inactions.
We face safety challenges every day and it is tempting to do what is fastest and easiest. Considering all the pressures you face on the job. It is easy to become complacent and fall into bad habits especially when you are tired or you have done a certain task 1000 times.
Safety is a value to you if you look at a situation and take safety precautions that not only help you but also help others, even when you don’t have to. You become a safety leader. Safety leaders motivate others with their attitude by setting a positive example.
Remember it is your responsibility to check out your own working conditions and it is up to you to follow your safety rules and procedures.
Don’t wait for a death or injury to motivate you to be safe. Don’t ever do anything to risk giving your co-workers a date to remember like I remember August 6th, 1986.
Presentation Learning Objectives:
The participants will learn, safety as a value is about making safe work practices a habit, not following safe work procedures even one time is unacceptable. When safety is held as a value individuals feel a sense of responsibility for the safety of their co-workers as well as themselves.
