I'd like to share a story that happened almost 30 years ago when I was the site safety representative at a chemical plant in Texas. I had been living in Colorado with my family when I decided to move to accept the new position in Houston.

A Spine-Tingling Encounter

One day, soon after I had started in my new role, I was doing my normal field inspection activities when I came upon a craftsman who was cutting a piece of metal with a torch and wasn't wearing safety goggles. I approached him and asked if he realized that he had forgotten his safety goggles. He quickly shot back to say that he was having a bad day and that he didn't need a "safety puke" to make it worse. He held up the torch defiantly to underline his point.

Although startled, I didn't back down. I tried to explain that it was my job to protect him and that I thought it was crucial for him to wear the required goggles to protect his eyesight. He said he'd done this for years without consequence. I continued to talk to him about how he needed his eyesight to earn a livelihood and enjoy the other aspects of his life. But he wouldn't budge.

The conversation dragged on for what felt like an uncomfortable period of time. Finally, finally, the craftsman put down the torch and went to the job box to retrieve his cutting goggles. Mission accomplished. We parted company and I continued my jobsite inspection.

Epilog to the Meeting

It was a strange encounter but it might have passed from my memory if not for what happened a little later that same day. I found the craftsman's foreman and told him about what happened. I expected the foreman to express surprise but he just shook blankly shook his head.

Then he told me that the craftsman had just been released from prison for attempted murder. It seems the craftsman was especially upset that day because he had a meeting with his parole officer and was looking at the possibility of having to return to prison for some parole infraction.

Conclusion

I still get a chill down my back when I think of what could have happened! Still, I look back on the incident as a small but fairly significant safety success. The experience points out the importance of how we, as safety professionals, approach people we see committing safety violations. I guess the moral of the story is that we need to hold firm without coming across as a scolding "puke." And we also need to be prepared with positive safety recommendations and an explanation for why they're necessary.

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