Let’s not hide it. All safety counsellor and prevention officer can confirm it. Despite the fact that workers on industrial sites are more and more aware of OSH, the fact remains that for some workers and supervisors, prevention officers are “trouble makers”… people who are there just stop the jobs. In short, they prefer to see us as far away as possible from the job site!
When my first article was published, a friend shared it on Facebook, and someone replied: “A dumbass like you say!”. Of course this person did not know that I knew well who had shared my article. I did not hesitate and responded to his comment. Of course, he was not talking about me personally, but about the person I represent through my work.
The question that arises is the following: under the pretext of fear of reprisals, should we close our eyes??
The primary responsibility of a safety officer is to ensure that the job site and behaviours are safe, not to make friends with workers. Of course, over time, we develop friendships, relationships, but despite these, our duties and our responsibilities remain the same!!
A direct consequence of our work is, of course, the finding of non-compliance which will, more often than not, lead to an opinion for the worker, the supervisor or the contractor. These opinions sometimes imply sanctions, which makes us, the safety officer, less cool in the eyes of all! But, once again, should we turn a blind eye??
Some time ago, I was working on a construction site where a contractor was on his second attempt to get me fired, because, according to him, I was too strict and severe. They tried by various methods to discredit me, even going so far as to convince a client representative that I was counterproductive on the site. On the other hand, I had the support of my employer and all the union representatives, who, on the contrary, considered that I was doing my job properly! I therefore remained on this site. Although I felt, as you can imagine, a little uncomfortable with this situation. Every day, I continued to do my job, without changing my way of doing things, my interventions and sometimes stopping if necessary, a job that presented a danger to workers.
One day, during one of my inspections, I came across not one, not two, but four workers in above-ground situations that did not comply, and this simultaneously!! To summarize the situation, two were attached to a temporary steel cable railing (the workers had taken it for a horizontal lifeline), another was standing on the railing of a scissor lift platform (he was secured to the bottom of the basket) and the last one was on a concrete slab without fall protection at an unsafe distance from the edge. The workers were about 6 metres (20 ft) above the ground.
To be honest with you, when I saw this, I said to myself, "This is it, I'm finished!” I had a lump in my throat when I called their OHS representative. At that time, I had two alternatives (I always had in mind the dismissal attempts (putsch)); close my eyes and take the chance that everything is going well and hoping that no one falls; or again, take the chance to stop them and make sure no one falls! I selected the second choice ... The work was therefore stopped. The situation was submitted to the disciplinary committee; we visited the site several times to ascertain the facts and the union representative asked me several questions to ensure the veracity of my observation. Finally, the four workers and the foreman received a day of sanction. When they returned to the site, none of the four workers looked at me (I could easily feel their frustration). However, the foreman came to see me and thanked me. Thanked me for having opened his eyes and making him aware that the progress of a construction site brings new risks every day. I have a friend who worked with his four guys and he never wanted to tell me everything that was said about me in their trailer (...), but I still have a little idea…
I could not and I will never be able to confirm to them that I have perhaps avoided them the worst and that is probably why for them, with my intervention, I am only a B****... But hey, once the day ended, I returned to my room knowing full well that I was not a B****; I had just done my job and perhaps I had avoided the worst and that was the most important thing…
As a safety officer, we are faced with the choice of closing our eyes every day.
No safety officer can and cannot confirm that he has ever saved a life in his career. However, we are all convinced that the work we do every day makes it possible to maintain safer construction sites for all workers. It is together that we can ensure that day after day, each of us will find our families and friends the way we left them.
What I remember mainly and say to myself when the time comes to make a more delicate intervention, is that words, talk and discontent are nothing compared to the feeling of guilt with which I would live if ever an accident occurred when I had chosen to close my eyes!
And you, your eyes, do you keep them wide open or sometimes close them???
As far as I’m concerned, the answer is clear: NO, I will never close my eyes!
