Masonry Magazine May 2009 Page. 44
PLAYING IT SAFE
By Zach Everett
Does the Economy Affect Safety for a Mason Contractor?
Whether the economy affects safety can only be answered by each mason contractor, and it can vary. The economy certainly shouldn't affect safety, but let's look at how it could.
When the economy is good, money is flowing and appears to be coming steadily down the pike. At this time, investments in safety personnel, safety equipment or supplies, and programs should be made and maintained easily. But what if there is a down turn in the economy? Money isn't flowing so freely, and the future holds some lean months or years ahead. How does it then affect safety?
Some may, if I can borrow the colloquialism, "cut off their noses to spite their faces" at the very time they need to be smelling the most. A contractor may get nervous and look to cut costs by doing away with safety-related processes. Equipment is not in safe working condition, so we keep using it anyway, rather than having it repaired or purchasing another. Safety training is time consuming and expensive, so we just send a "greenhorn" out to do a task he is not trained to do in a safe manner. We put an untrained, uncertified employee on a forklift to operate this heavy equipment with people all around him who could be injured or killed. Or a person may be asked to build scaffold when he is not trained on the hazards associated. Maybe we stop buying safety glasses, gloves or face shields to protect our employees and hope they will come up with some on their own.
The fact is, mason contractors who have strong safety programs in action will benefit on their bottom lines.
Consider the following
Injury down time. When safety is sacrificed, injuries are the natural result. When that happens, employees stop working. That costs money. The down time will depend on the severity of the injury. Some people will stop to help the injured. Some will stop to just watch out of concern. If the injury requires EMS, chances are the whole job will shut down. Supervisors will stop what they're doing to make sure proper care is given. Time will be taken to conduct an injury investigation, and employees will have down time writing witness statements, if they saw what happened. There should be a safety meeting held immediately to inform the other crewmembers about how the injured person is doing and what happened, so that they can avoid such a hazard in the future. As more information about the incident becomes available, it should be shared with the crew. Additional training may be needed as well. There can be literally thousands of dollars lost solely