Things not to do During Safety Training
Guest Post
“Great,” you’re thinking. “A safety meeting. Another several hours where I have to listen to someone preach at me about ways to be safe. I have yet to kill—or even maim—anyone on the job. Why do I have to sit through this?”
The fact of the matter is, yeah, safety meetings are pretty painful. But at the same time, safety training serves a purpose. Not all of your coworkers are as observant or intelligent (or good-looking) as you. So while you’re forced to sit through the droning blabber of protocols and OSHA regulations and procedural mumbo-jumbo, you’re likely to be tempted to pass your time another way. But with all of the things you could do to pass your time, we wanted to present a list of things that you probably shouldn’t do while you’re in a safety meeting. You know, for safety.
Fall Asleep
It’s wildly tempting. You first start yawning loudly. You feel your eyes getting heavy while the instructor talks about the correct way to wear a seatbelt on a forklift. Your chin tips forward and lands on your chest, your eyelids close, and without warning you’re dreaming about hacking through the jungles in search of a lost golden monkey idol. Trust us here, though: you don’t want to fall asleep. You might miss something important. No, seriously. You might not hear that they moved where they’re keeping the safety supplies now that people have started taking the reserve batteries home with them. If nothing else, your impromptu nap might lead others to believe that it’s ok to nod off, when they’re the ones that really need to pay attention. And your snoring could disrupt the class. Stay awake.
Light a Cigarette
Are you kidding? You would smoke in a safety meeting? Aside from being notoriously bad for your health (and we are talking about safety here), what if there’s a gas leak somewhere inside the warehouse, or wherever your safety meeting is being held? In the safety meeting, they may even be talking about the multitude of combustible materials that are surrounding you right this moment.
Daydream
There may be a thin line between sleeping in a meeting and daydreaming, but as it stands you shouldn’t do either. Think back to high school. You’re off in your head playing Snoopy as you fight the Red Baron in an epic battle in the skies, and just as you have him in your sights, you’re ripped back to reality when your teacher calls your name and asks you to name the chemical symbol for Germanium. “The what?” Exactly. Everyone else in the class—or safety meeting—turns to look at you, and suddenly you’re completely irresponsible. They don’t want you driving a forklift around them anymore. For shame.
Play Phone Games
Those pesky smartphones have so many games on them now it’s a wonder you get any work done at all. The main issue is that once you get started chucking birds at thieving pigs, you get addicted and absolutely have to get the high score on every level. Then, after the meeting is over, you can’t give up. You have to keep going, even while you’re walking across the warehouse floor right in front of the forklift whose driver can’t see you because he wasn’t paying attention in the safety meeting either.
We joke about it, but safety is no laughing matter. Regardless of how boring or droning a safety meeting can be, it’s always best to be alert and attentive. You just might learn something new. Like the saying goes: it’s all fun and games until someone knocks over a barrel of hazardous and toxic material in an enclosed and unventilated area. Or something like that.
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