The commercial for a well-known credit card has background singers proclaiming, “I want it now! I want it now!” The ad is all about using the credit card to get whatever you want right now.  If you could buy safety in your organization, wouldn’t you? Sometimes, it seems that even if we could buy it, safety is elusive.

It’s deeply troubling when we investigate or read about incidents where workers are seriously or fatally injured. It’s devastating when it happens in our own workplace. The common question is: what went wrong?

Universally, the answer is procedures aren’t followed at some point by someone. It may be the telecommunication lineman who didn’t check voltages on the nearby electric lines or wear personal protective equipment. Perhaps it’s the tower climber who unhooked the fall protection to reposition - just this once. Or maybe it’s the manager talking on the cell phone while driving without a seatbelt on to a meeting.

Almost without exception, no one wants to accept blame, take personal responsibility, or be blamed by another person for an incident, particularly if someone was seriously injured. So then what happens? The blame is shifted to the situation rather than the people. Often workers blame a hidden hazard, something that wasn’t obvious to those involved in the work.

If we begin to place the blame on something we couldn’t see or didn’t know about, then we can never get to the point where we have zero injuries or do jobs where nobody gets hurt. Employees could not have the confidence to come to work and know that they can go home uninjured. The heavy equipment operator wouldn’t be able to dig; the mechanic couldn’t repair equipment; the tower crew couldn’t climb; the technician shouldn’t work around voltage. Not much could be accomplished. The reality is we’ve learned a lot about doing all kinds of work safely so we can be productive.

In reviewing most incidents, even when a hidden hazard was a factor, it’s obvious that procedures existed, but weren’t followed; protective equipment was available, but not used; personal protective equipment was within reach, but not worn. It’s enough to make a person crazy when you step back and look at these situations. In virtually every case, the people involved had the means to prevent the incident, avoid injury, and save lives. Yet, they didn’t.

Sometimes people blame incidents on bad luck. “The harder I work, the luckier I get” is an old adage that can be paraphrased to apply to injury prevention: When I wear my personal protective equipment, use my protective equipment, follow safety procedures and hone my skills, the luckier I am. Call it luck if you will, but it’s doing the right things to increase the probability of going home without an injury.

We may not be able to buy safety with a credit card, but we can get it when we use what we have available to us: good procedures, protective equipment, and PPE. Then we can have workplaces where nobody gets hurt.