Alec Caldwell
The culture of silence in construction!
Canadian Contractor InsuranceI've been on jobsites when people fallen to their deaths. And yet the circustances that created these accidents can be found all around us, every day, on renovation jobsites across Canada, because there's a culture that says it's somehow wrong to speak up about safety violations.
Last week I talked about how most of contractors, trades and employees do not wear hard hats while working on home renovation job sites. This is called a culture! In the dictionary the word culture is described as: the customary belief or the social form. Meaning if the boss or supervisor doesn’t wear one, then that’s the norm for everyone connected. You deciding to wear one might look out of place; and that would not be cool – would you even look wimpish to others around you? So why rock the boat?
A company with a culture like this can compromise on other safety issues, like ladders not being secured or tied down top and bottom as required. Or equipment could be damaged and unsafe, but it’s still in use. How about that open hole in the floor they everyone is working around that should be closed or have the required guard rails around it? It’s a 15 foot fall onto a concrete basement floor below. This might be a consideration for a second or two, yet everyone including the boss continues working around this dangerous and maybe deadly situation. Then while on a roof job, no one uses harnesses – or they are worn but not tied to an anchor point!
What I’ve just described is not imaginary, I’ve seen these items daily visiting job sites and I know I’m not the only one noticing these risks: hired workers see it, but use the code of silence. Hired workers don’t think they are in a position to speak up about any of this, when the culture is to be bend the rules, cut corners, avoid rocking the boat at all costs.
This whole situation is alarming and dangerous. Over the years I have personally know many contractors who never made it home that night to their families after a devastating workplace accident. All because of bad management and a lack of safety practices. It stems from an attitude of wanting to rush to the end of a job at any cost, relegating the well-being of the very people they should care about, their workers, to an afterthought. I’ve been on jobsites when people have fallen to their deaths, or if they were lucky, spending the rest of their lives in wheelchairs, and it’s a terrible, terrible scene that one you never want to see yourself. Or be a victim of.
For all those who survive workplace deaths, many face a lifetime of pain and suffering from their injuries. Many are at first paid benefits by the WSIB or by private insurance plans, but these payments can stop not to long after these accidents. A good friend of mine fell off a roof because he was not tied down and ended up in a wheelchair for a year. WSIB ceased claim payments to him 12 months after he got out of that chair. Nine years later he still can’t drive and he’s finding income very hard to find. Life has never been the same for him since.
Its time to speak out now and stop this culture of silence.
Email alec@carahs.org
Toll free 1-866-366-2930
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Alec. You sound like so many liberal minded thinker.. The idea of government being able to legislate safety has been try in other countries for years. Safety in the workplace is a mindset . Getting back to basics is getting workers to think and tfollow rules developed largely by people who have never carried out the work. In India in the early 80’s we tried to legislate safety on workers and over a two year period accidents went up. They had never worn hard hats, safety shoes , ( some did not wear shoes). Safety. Glasses were a safety hazard. But actually nobody wanted to get hurt or hurt a fellow worker? That was their mindset and that is what worked. Fraser.