Safety headlines grab attention with catastrophe, accidents, fines, and pointing fingers. April 15th marks the 103rd year anniversary of one of the most talked about safety tragedies of 20th century.
“You’ll shoot your eye out kid,” Santa replies in the 1980s movie classic A Christmas Story, when Ralphie asks for a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. That phrase has become synonymous with eye safety in a joking manner.In reality, personal protection equipment (PPE) isn’t laughable when thousands of people are blinded, injured, or killed each year from accidents that could have been prevented or minimized if appropriate PPE had been used.
Year after year, citations for Lockout/Tagout (LO/TO) failure continue to make the top ten list of OSHA violations. While overall citations decreased in 2014, failure to LO/TO showed the least improvement, arriving in sixth place.