Accidents can happen in any workplace. But accidents on a drill site can easily result in an employee injury or even death. Drilling crews are trained on safety measures, but is an attitude of safety promoted beyond that?
Carelessness, taking shortcuts, and ignoring rules are frequent causes of accidents on a job site. Little things like forgetting to set the brake, hoisting a rod improperly, or not wearing a hard hat can turn into a disaster in the blink of an eye. It’s not a conscious decision to be careless or to take shortcuts. In fact, most of the time accidents happen because the driller or helper hasn’t been hurt before. If you avoid injury time and time again when overlooking safety precautions, you begin to believe it’s okay and that injuries won’t happen. That’s why fostering an attitude of safety is so important.
A safety attitude is a mindset of behaving responsibly at all times, holding your coworkers accountable, and following safety precautions regardless of pressure from or the behavior of others. It may be tempting to cut corners in the name of efficiency or to feel pressured by a customer to dig before a site has been properly safety-checked. But drillers and their crews need to remember that precautions are in place to protect equipment and property, avoid utility damage, and prevent devastating injuries that can happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone.
As an employer, what can you do to foster a safety attitude?
- Review your company’s safety rules and be sure your employees know what to do and who to contact if others aren’t in compliance
- Talk with your employees about the different types of PPE they may need and which conditions each is necessary for
- Lay out all safety procedures to be followed before starting at a new job site, as well as what is expected once the job starts
A safety attitude is more than a slogan or a clever poster in the hallway. It has to be a promoted mindset, every day, on every site, with every employee. Only by acting responsibly at all times – especially when no one is looking – can your employees protect property, equipment, and each other.
