Everyone is Responsible for Safety Each individual may assume that since everyone is responsible, there are others in the area who can take action. The end result may actually be that everyone present is going to make that very same assumption, and no one will actually do anything to further the cause of safety. By Peter FurstOct 16, 2020 The organizational thinking behind the "everyone is responsible for safety" idea is to create a universal mindset to actively engage everyone, which should minimize the risk of injury due to the concerted grass-roots effort. I was making a presentation at a safety conference and as an opening asked the attendees who is responsible for safety. A rather large number responded with: “everyone is responsible for safety.” As a follow up, I asked how exactly this could be managed so as to get the intended accountable results. There really were no good responses. This idea may sound great in theory but in reality, it is not practical to hold a group accountable for individual behavior. Some situational Issues For an individual to decide to intervene they have to decide that some form of hazard exists, the worker is not aware of it, and may suffer an injury, unless they are warned. Some of the possible reasons the observer may decide not to warn the worker. The observer may assume that the risk is low, the worker is aware of the hazard, is experienced and capable of working around it, and gives no warning. If there are others in the area, then the observer may assume that one of the other persons present has already alerted or will alert the exposed worker and does nothing. The observer may feel less experienced than the person performing the task and, so say nothing. The observer, not knowing the others well may feel reluctant to voice concern for fear that others may ridicule his concern. If the observer works for a different subcontractor, or in a different trade they may feel they don’t have the authority or the expertise to say something about the situation. In the case of a supervisor faced with a critical production goal may not say anything about a hazard, as the task may take little time, or the worker engaged is experienced. Therefore, decides not to intervene. Let's block ads! (Why?)