Dusty Roach
Greetings and salutations! Welcome to this month’s installation of random thoughts and light hearted experiences in the front lines of Safety! You know we have some incredibly interesting tales to tell, but as usual, it doesn’t strike up a lot of interest coming from a safety person! People have often asked me, “How does a safety professional ever tell an interesting story at a social gathering without a PowerPoint?” There are several answers: 1. With great difficulty. 2. With the aid of door prizes, 3. Bribery.
All kidding aside, you would be surprised at the entertainment value of the stories that could be told, if if safety people were to open up to an audience. However, we are always so sullen, serious, and passionate about the genuine safety and the welfare of our people that we generally pass over the lighter side. The other obstacle we face is that we are constantly trying to compress a three-hour version of necessary facts, regulations, laws and figures into a 30-minute presentation. This leaves little room for levity!
So most safety instructors dive straight into their precise terminology in order to put across a specific point. Plus, when it comes to interpreting the OSHA regulations, exact meanings and definitions become paramount.
Perhaps if a safety person started with the phrase of “One time at band camp…” it would pique more interest at a social gathering, or a meeting. Maybe we could start it with, “One time at man camp…” That could get conversations started, but time does not allow us to do that. Have you heard about the safety guy that walked into a bar? He should have been wearing his hard hat.
I do have a story—one that I was not directly involved with—from a time when I worked with three or four retired DPS officers. They told me about a time when they were traveling extensively checking DOT compliance for various yards. They were up in the Rockies heading to the next yard location. They got behind a farmer pulling a homemade trailer that was built with plywood walls. The driver was going about 50 mph. Just as they were getting ready to pass, the door opened on the trailer and there stood a large pig! They started watching the pig, and one of the guys said, “That pig is getting ready to jump out!” As soon as he said that, the pig jumped out! The driver swerved and missed the pig, but the pig was sliding and rolling down the highway. One said to other, “Are we going to go back and help the farmer catch the pig?” To which the driver asked, “Have you ever tried to catch a an angry, ticked-off pig?” They kept on driving. Just the visual itself really cracked me up. What are the odds? You see, today’s topic could have been about Load Securement.
Well enough silliness and humor—on to the original intent. During this time of the year—the month of Thanksgiving—I am thankful to be in the profession that I am in. I am thankful that each year more people are going home safer than in years before, especially in our industry. To be a true safety person, one must genuinely care for the welfare of the employee. The safety person has the power to impact the
well-being of workers who literally put their life on the line every day. The oil and gas industry has provided our nation a great service in peacetime and in wartime as well. There are not many in the general public who realize what it takes to make that gas pump flow, nor who realize the hundreds if not thousands of items that are made from petroleum by-products.
Our industry is honorable and the sacrifice is real. This month I will not be harping on what should be done, nor on the regulations and/or how to meet them. Thank goodness for the diversity we have in our profession. I truly give thanks for being in a profession that allows us to help people. Sometimes it is incredibly rough. Other times, safety is unbelievably rewarding. The rough times include death or dismemberment. Accidents where the injured or deceased willingly and knowingly took a shortcut in safety and paid for it with their life. I’ve made three different trips to the burn center in Lubbock, Texas, to see the men that made bad decisions. They wondered if they would make it, and sometimes wished they wouldn’t. Those visits were usually followed by seeing the families. There are no words how heartbreaking it is for all.
In conclusion, I am thankful that I have had a part in the good times and the bad. I am thankful to have the opportunity to be the brunt of jokes as long as everyone makes it home safely.
Remember! It’s not how many hits you make in baseball. It is how many times you make it home safely. Happy Thanksgiving!
Dusty