This letter first appeared as an email from the MCAA Safety Newsletter. Mr. Fowles the author of the letter tells a moving story highlighting the decisions we make on scaffolding safety every day that pertain to our safety and the safety of others weighed against getting the job done. He illustrates the choiceces we make when the odds of an accident are low versus high. Think about what he says and leave your thoughts.

Dear Mark,

While visiting a project a few weeks ago, I noticed the safety mid rail had not been put on next to where we had the saw set up on the scaffold. One of our employees was approaching the saw quickly with a block in his hand. As he reached the saw and placed the block on the table of the saw, I called up to him and informed him of the missing rail. He apologized and looked back to the saw. That’s when I called to him again and told him I needed him to replace the rail. He looked at me and then back at the block a couple of times in obvious internal conflict before calling back and asking if he could just make the one cut because the masons were waiting on it. To his credit, when I replied the rail needed to be replaced first, he looked at the cut then at me and quickly went to find the straight brace.

This young man is a good hard worker who takes safety pretty serious so why was there that moment of indecision before he replaced the safety rail? Probably because he is a good hard worker; and that is definitely a great attribute, but it can sometimes place us at odds within our own set of values.

The reason any of us come to work is to put units in the wall. When a mason is not putting a unit in the wall for whatever reason, we are all suffering the consequences of less revenue. That is a simple and indisputable fact. If each of us are not worried about productivity, we should probably find some different kind of work. However, how much productivity can pay back for a human life?

Could the tender have made that one cut without having been hurt by the missing mid rail? Not only can I say he probably could, but I quite confidently can say he definitely could have made the cut without being affected in any way by the missing rail. The question I can’t answer is who may have passed that point after he made the cut and would they have been safe?

Judging by the location of the saw, and the activity on the job, there was probably a very low chance of anyone else passing that point for quite some time. The odds were in our favor that nothing would have happened. Once again I ask, “how low do the odds need to be to gamble with your life?”

Let me put it in a different perspective: how low do you think the odds would need to be for you to gamble with the life of that person you love dearly? Do you think they would have thought the risks were okay if they knew you might be coming near that missing rail? My guess is they would say why ever would you gamble with your life.

So, let’s not gamble with our lives or the lives of those we work with; if not for our own sakes then for the ones who love us. I looked down on the lifeless body of my own nine year old daughter nearly 20 years ago when the low odds didn’t pay off and I know I’d have given anything to have her back. Don’t put the one you love through that hell because you were willing to play the odds when it came to safety.

Odell Fowles
Director of Risk Management
IMS Masonry