Personal Responsibility in the Workplace

The ability to identify and correct safety hazards are two characteristics of a competent worker according to the article “ID and Correct Hazards: Primary Components of Competent Work Safety.”  Workers need to take need to take personal responsibility for preventing injuries in the work place.

The willingness to take personal responsibility  and identify workplace hazards are strongly linked to values and acceptance of accountability of employees.  The worker who identify and correct safety hazards have generally not received more intense safety training, they are just more willing to make the workplace safe for themselves and others.

For example a worker at one site accidently spills some liquid on the stair treads he is climbing.  The worker keeps on going.  He figures he needs to get his job done quickly; it is a small spill and shouldn’t cause anyone else any problems as it spilled towards the corner of the tread.  The next worker comes up the stairs carrying something bigger, steps on the liquid and falls.

At a different site a worker spills on the stairway treads he is walking up, and even though he needs to get his job done quickly, he knows that cleaning up the spill will only take an extra minute or two.  He gets to the top of the stairs, turns around and wipes up the mess.  Future slip and falls are avoided.

Non-slip stair treads would help keep any type of worker safe in slippery work environments, no matter how much personal responsibility they take to keep the workplace safe. Often it is not just personal responsibility that causes accidents, but unsafe conditions. SLIPNOT offers many options to fit in any work environment.

Personal responsibility is something that should stressed during safety meetings and in the workplace as a whole.  A safe work environment free of safety hazards is everyone’s job, and everyone working together will create a great place to work

Potter, Carl. “ID and Correct Hazards: Primary Components to Work Safety.” www.ehs.com, 2011, January. <http://www.fsmmag.com/Articles/2011/01/ID%20and%20Correct%20Hazards.htm>

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