Be careful, pay attention, watch what you’re doing, follow the rules... and you won’t get hurt!” Not exactly the most positive form of communication, is it?

While arc flash is an increasingly well-known phenomena, workers are still suffering injuries on a regular basis. In June 2019, OSHA cited a metal smelting company for electrical hazards after an arc flash caused three workers to suffer severe burns at the ASARCO facility in Hayden, Arizona.

Telling employees to watch their step isn’t enough to eliminate slip, trip and fall injuries in production areas. Like other safety hazards, slip, trip and fall hazards can be identified and in many cases eliminated.

Imagine a work setting with all the latest and greatest eye washes and safety showers installed in every area that poses an exposure risk with easy and unobstructed access.

Our safety programs, if they exist at all, tend to focus on participation and completion, rather than transformation. To be fair, the chief obstacle stems from a preponderance of wrong assumptions and dangerous misconceptions. Identifying some of these (see below) may help us as safety professionals become more effective in our mission.

“What are you going to do for an 18- to 23-year-old who yesterday worked at Wendy’s and today will be walking into a high-risk work environment?” asked Mike Deetsch. Mike is the director of education and engagement for the Toledo Museum of Art.