Injured Workers Become Super Heroes

Injured Workers Become Super Heroes????

Well its been a while since we heard from Hazardman (see Hazardman Wont Save You), the super hero able to control human behaviour, able to remove all risk from the workplace in a single bound….. perhaps he has finally succumbed to the effects of overdoing Zero Harm (like others poor souls before him) or has he been defeated by his two arch nemesis “The Human Fallibility” and “The Decision Maker”?.

Anyway, did anyone wonder how Hazardman got his super powers? A 4 Day Diploma in OHS? were they bestowed upon him by “The Regulator”? or did he just get over a 80million hits on Youtube with a cute, animated jingle? Well, it seems he may have attained his super powers after suffering an horrendous injury at work, caused by an employer who seriously violated basic safety regulations!

Are you a Safety Crusader or a Safety Leader?

If you have a little down time you might want to check out this recent article: The Many Preventable Workplace Injuries in Superhero Movies. Walt Hickey lists numerous examples of how accidents like gamma ray leaks, falling into vats of toxic chemicals, lab experiments gone wrong and other workplace accidents have created a large proportion of Hollywood super heroes and villains.

In particular he describes how, In “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx), a mild-mannered electrical engineer with an inferiority complex, becomes “Electro”:

He’s forced to stay behind after hours to fix a circuit. Without a buddy or spot — and thus not complying with Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulation 1910.120 — Max climbs to the top of a catwalk above several tanks of genetically modified electrical eels. He does so without the proper use of a standard harness, infringing OSHA fall-protection guidelines. He is unable to get another employee to shut off power, in blatant violation of rudimentary OSHA electrical guidelines. He balances on top of the catwalk railing and — without the use of standard work-issue insulated rubber gloves (see OSHA 1910.137(a)(1) for voltage-class requirements) — reconnects the cable. He then pushes the cable back into its slot, is severely shocked, falls a long distance into one of the eel tanks, is shocked by those eels and eventually becomes Electro.

This sequence of events — and essentially the entire plot of “The Amazing Spider-Man 2″ — could have been avoided if Max’s employer, Oscorp Industries, complied with even the most basic workplace health and safety standards.

Sorry for wasting your valuable time with this rubbish!