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Four Dangerous Workplace Excuses

Everyone has experienced negativity in the workplace caused by a co-worker who makes excuses and has a bad attitude about their job. Besides spoiling the mood at work, this bad work-place behavior can also lead to dangerous accidents and safety hazards. Contractor Magazine shares four phrases heard in the workplace that reflect an unsafe attitude and could potentially lead to a serious workplace injury.

“We don’t have time.” When it comes to workplace safety training, this commonly heard phrase is simply false. Contractor Magazine explains that investing time in safety training ultimately saves more time than it loses for workers and companies. When an injury or illness occurs, work time and productivity is lost. In a worse-case scenario, the death of an employee that could result from opting-out of safety training would cost the company and its workers dearly.

“I know a shortcut.” Sure, everyone has taken the occasional shortcut at work. But banking on the probability that nothing bad will come of it could lead to safety hazards or even workplace disasters. To illustrate the danger of this attitude, Contractor Magazine uses the example of a worker who decided to use a shorter-than-recommended ladder to reach the roof of a building. The worker, who didn’t want to find a ladder of the appropriate length, experienced a nasty fall to the ground because of his seemingly harmless shortcut.

“We’ll fix it later.” This is another dangerous attitude to have when it comes to the safety of workers. Working with damaged equipment is never a good idea. A broken part could fly off and injure someone. In the case of a vehicle, forklift, or other heavy equipment, malfunctions could cause a crash or tip-over. “Fix it now” should be the motto of workers and employers. Contractor Magazine recommends that defective items be taken out of commission immediately.

“It’s not in the budget.” When it comes to safety training and precautions, having this attitude could lead to a financial nightmare for companies and tragedy for employees. The resulting medical expenses and possible OSHA fines that the employer would face after a serious employee injury or death would be tremendous, in fact, a far greater expense than the cost of safety training and instruction.

While many people have heard at least one of these phrases at work, making excuses about workplace safety is never beneficial to employees or employers. There is no justification that can be made for ignoring or dismissing safety hazards in the workplace. Unfortunately, workplace accidents happen every day. If your safety was compromised at work and you suffered an injury as a result, you have the right to hold the appropriate parties accountable for their negligence and irresponsibility in keeping you safe.

If you want to learn more about job injury claims, you may want to visit our Philadelphia workers’ compensation page. Our firm specializes in standing up for injured workers to make sure they get the benefits they deserve.

Source: ContractorMagazine.com, “Unsafe attitude leads to workplace problems,” Benjamin Mangan, April 1, 2006.