If You Don’t Believe In Safety …

I spoke today to the Edmonton Area Pipeline and Utility Operators Committee (EAPUOC). There were 500 or so in attendance as well as several booths featuring suppliers to the guys and companies who put shovels in the ground.

It was a full day of sessions and learning. Just prior to my session which was to close the day, Spencer Beach took the stage. Spencer is a unique character with an incredibly tough story to hear. It is impossible to not feel something during his presentation. Spencer, in a flash fire, suffered third and fourth degree burns to ninety percent of his body in a mere twenty seconds while the flames around him burned at 1500 degrees Celsius – the same temperature that cremation takes place at.

Luckily, he overcame the five percent chance he had to live, has endured thirty-five surgeries and was hospitalized for fourteen straight months.

During his presentation, he mentioned God several times. I suppose, that being left alone and being engulfed in 1500 degree flames, God is pretty much all you have left to talk to. In fact, it is impossible to predict who or what you would talk to or think about during the longest time of your life – as you fought to keep it.

And yet, there are people who go to work every day who don’t think about the safety aspect as being any more than a nuisance and perceive their safety supervisor – the guy who cares enough to keep him alive – as the bad guy who may come down on him for not following procedure. That worker will put himself and others at risk only because he thinks he knows best. That’s an idiotic way to try to prove a point.

SAFETY ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: If you don’t believe in safety, then you had better believe in God. Safety Attitude and awareness will keep you from harm’s way. But if you don’t believe in safety, then it won’t really be up to you whether you live or die: that, you leave in the hands of someone or something much more powerful, and I would guess a whole lot smarter, than you. If you ignore safety, safety ignores you.