A decrepit board causes death

The other day we ran across a report of a worker who fell three stories to his death from a scaffold that was loose and, in the words of the reporter, “dilapidated.”

How many times do our workers scramble to find a board or a used scaffold to stand on to do work on the outside of a building without giving the durability of the supporting materials a thought? They want to do the job now and get it done. They don’t want to bother the foreman. They may not even notice that the board is split at one end or that nails holding the scaffold together are wobbly.

After the fact, we know. Local authorities and the work site’s management staff can pinpoint exactly why that worker fell to his death.

Someone has said that “all accidents are preventable,” and this one certainly was. That is not the same as saying that the people at that business, including the worker who fell, intended for the board to twist and send the worker to the concrete surface below. Neglect leading to injury is never intentional.

Safety on the job is never an accident. Constant, persistent, and sometimes annoying attention to safety-related issues by all employees is the only way to maintain a safe workplace for all.