35 People Share Workplace Safety Fails That Will Make You Wonder About Safety Officers’ Sanity

Safety first, people!

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• December 4, 2021

Workplace safety is no laughing matter. But, even in these modern times, some people believe that the safety rules only slow them down.

In their mind, they are made by bureaucrats who have never worked a day in their life and spend most of their time devising new ways to make work difficult for workers, who actually contribute to this country’s economy. But safety rules are there for a reason.

They are there to prevent accidents and save lives. They are not a bunch of terms and procedures written on a piece of paper.

Generations upon generations of workers have died on construction sites for us to reach today’s levels of workplace safety.

The r/OSHA subreddit is a place where people can share examples of blatant disrespect for safety regulations and common sense. It’s incredible to see how people put their lives in danger just to save a couple of minutes.

What’s more frightening is that they are also endangering others. Blocked fire and emergency exits are simply unacceptable. How can people be so irresponsible?

We have chosen 35 of the most interesting and most frightening examples. Take a look, and use it as a rulebook for what not to do. Ever.

1. “Buddy of mine that was born completely deaf in one ear hit the PPE lottery today”

2. “Call to locate the underground power lines? Nah you don’t need to do that…”

3. “Gonna have to bring a ruler to the bathroom”

4. “Corporate says tires are too expensive and all of our delivery vans are just fine”

5. We didn't start the fire...

6. “Totally passes the inspection”

7. “It’s like a Lock Out tag, just different”

“for the record, that means double, ‘Do not bother,’ in Spanish”

8. “A forklift with zero safety features. No clue how old this thing is, couldn’t find a data plate.”

9. “How many men does it take to screw in a lightbulb?”

10. “Seems safe enough”

11. “My buddy sent this to me. I’m at a loss of words…”

12. “So instead of renting a pole saw to cut the root that was in the way in their drilled shaft they decided to duct tape a chainsaw to a 4×4. That also means duct taping the throttle wide open along with duct taping the deadman switch.”

13. “Some welders came into my house, this is their welding machine and electric cord…”

14. “Hang in there buddy…”

15. “Who decided that this was a good idea?”

16. “The safest way to carry lifts of lumber from one part of a yard to a waiting truck! Up in the air above the cab while driving forward. lol! I see these guys doing this every time I go to this yard.”

17. “We all know the feeling”

18. “I love grinding in the gas room”

19. "A tractor-powered saw bench"

20. “Can’t decide between 1 and 2”

21. “The building across the street from my job is being worked on, and this was the set up the contractors used to remove damaged bricks, which they dropped directly onto the sidewalk.”

22. Totally safe...

23. Something is off here....

24. “Caught me taking a pic”

25. “Rules enforced via angry forklift”

26. “No emergency exit for you!”

27. “That should be enough to stop the fire from getting in.”

28. “But tell me, how am I supposed to mitigate stupidity in my job hazard assessment form?”

29. “At least they don’t have to worry about the top rung of the ladder.”

30. “Efficient? Pointlessly dangerous? Something about walking the plank to take a dump”

31. “In case of fire wade through flammables."

32. “On flip-flops…”

33. Don't worry, got you covered.

34. “Ehh just throw some cardboard in there.. 480v never hurt anyone!”

35. “I still do stuff like this at work because some places (and people) are just hard to reach.”

It is pretty amazing to see how irresponsible people can be, right? A total of 5,333 workers died from work-related injuries in the U.S. in 2019, up 2% from 2018.

The fatal work injury rate was 3.5 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers. And we still haven’t learned our lesson.

Damjan