It started fifteen years ago in The Dirty Jobs Mudroom – where I used to converse online with fans of Dirty Jobs. Somebody there asked me if I thought safety was really “first,” and I said, “of course not.” Specifically, I wrote this: “No company in the history of the world has ever put the business of safety before the business of making money, and no employee has ever reported to work for the primary purpose of being safe. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.” Someone then asked me, “If safety isn’t first, then what is?” To which I replied, “Safety is too important to rank, but that doesn’t mean its first. ‘Safety Always’ would be a more sensible slogan, but I guess if I had to rank it, I’d put the desire to be safe after ‘the need to make money,’ and ‘the willingness to assume risk.’ In other words, ‘Safety Third.’”
This is from Mike Rowe’s website. His slogan is “Safety Third”. He plainly says that a business owner’s profits and the willingness for workers to take risks is more important than worker safety. That’s his slogan. Absolute ghoul.
Rowe takes what should be seen as a poignant contradiction in the workplace (and one that can be used to agitate) and instead goes “Hmm well the boss wants to make money and the worker seems to be willing to change falling off scaffolding. This is perfectly equal and good and nothing more to see here.”
There’s a small kernel of truth in what he’s saying, and he doesn’t touch on it because the implications are not good for a boot licker like him. Construction workers are not “willing to take risks” , they are
Propagandised to see safety as a time wasting useless function
Demoralised by what safety measures are in place because most exist to punish workers on the ground for mistakes and not reward continual success
Disciplined by deadlines, piecework, their bosses to go as fast as possible.
Ironically enough the same people on site that tell everyone to be as safe as possible are also the same ones pushing improbable finish dates for work, workers see this hypocrisy and understand that, without some kind of mass backing them, if they are going to be firm on workplace rules there’s a good chance they’re next when layoffs come around.
This is from Mike Rowe’s website. His slogan is “Safety Third”. He plainly says that a business owner’s profits and the willingness for workers to take risks is more important than worker safety. That’s his slogan. Absolute ghoul.
Rowe takes what should be seen as a poignant contradiction in the workplace (and one that can be used to agitate) and instead goes “Hmm well the boss wants to make money and the worker seems to be willing to change falling off scaffolding. This is perfectly equal and good and nothing more to see here.”
There’s a small kernel of truth in what he’s saying, and he doesn’t touch on it because the implications are not good for a boot licker like him. Construction workers are not “willing to take risks” , they are
Propagandised to see safety as a time wasting useless function
Demoralised by what safety measures are in place because most exist to punish workers on the ground for mistakes and not reward continual success
Disciplined by deadlines, piecework, their bosses to go as fast as possible.
Ironically enough the same people on site that tell everyone to be as safe as possible are also the same ones pushing improbable finish dates for work, workers see this hypocrisy and understand that, without some kind of mass backing them, if they are going to be firm on workplace rules there’s a good chance they’re next when layoffs come around.