5 ms·

Over-the-top safety requirements are spot on I think. Here in BC Worksafe BC just constantly adds on new rules and regulations every year, and they don't care a

Over-the-top safety requirements are spot on I think. Here in BC Worksafe BC just constantly adds on new rules and regulations every year, and they don't care about your company's budget or productivity. I know Worksafe programs are similar from province to province, so I would be curious to see a comparison of Canadian Worksafe safety standards to safety standards from around the world to see just how much more (or less?) onerous they are.

cylinder 7y ago
Well if we can't afford to build things without killing people, we shouldn't be building things. Construction safety rules act as a check on liberal capitalism's growth obsession.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- refurb 7y ago
  You’re assuming new rules and regulations actually prevent injury and death. That isn’t necessarily so.
  - cylinder 7y ago
    Top four safest countries for construction are usually UK, Australia, NZ, Canada. They also have the most regulations on safety and a generally strong safety culture. Correlation may equal causation.
- smabie 7y ago
  I guess we better just live without anything then. You can’t build anything without there being a risk of injury or death. Just like how you can’t walk down the street without risk of injury or death.
- trasneoir 7y ago
  We can afford to manage risk, but not eliminate it. If we allow safety to rule us completely, we invite regulatory capture and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_traffic_laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_traffic_laws
bumby 7y ago
How does Canada compare to the U.S.? United States citizens have a legal right to a safe work environment which is what drives many of the safety requirements. The others are generally best practices stemming from past lessons learned. Do Canadian workers have similar rights? If so, your comment of " just constantly adds on new rules and regulations every year, and they don't care about your company's budget or productivity." could be read to acknowledge that it's not the government's job to preserve a company's budget or productivity, but rather preserve their citizens' right to a safe work environment. In a perfect world, profit and safety could align but when they don't I'm not sure it's fair to chastise an organization for upholding their competing interest. The above can be all disregarded if Canadians don't have similar rights, it was just a thought.

cylinder 7y ago

Well if we can't afford to build things without killing people, we shouldn't be building things. Construction safety rules act as a check on liberal capitalism's growth obsession.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
refurb 7y ago
You’re assuming new rules and regulations actually prevent injury and death. That isn’t necessarily so.
- cylinder 7y ago
  Top four safest countries for construction are usually UK, Australia, NZ, Canada. They also have the most regulations on safety and a generally strong safety culture. Correlation may equal causation.
smabie 7y ago
I guess we better just live without anything then. You can’t build anything without there being a risk of injury or death. Just like how you can’t walk down the street without risk of injury or death.
trasneoir 7y ago
We can afford to manage risk, but not eliminate it. If we allow safety to rule us completely, we invite regulatory capture and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_traffic_laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_traffic_laws

bumby 7y ago

How does Canada compare to the U.S.? United States citizens have a legal right to a safe work environment which is what drives many of the safety requirements. The others are generally best practices stemming from past lessons learned. Do Canadian workers have similar rights? If so, your comment of " just constantly adds on new rules and regulations every year, and they don't care about your company's budget or productivity." could be read to acknowledge that it's not the government's job to preserve a company's budget or productivity, but rather preserve their citizens' right to a safe work environment. In a perfect world, profit and safety could align but when they don't I'm not sure it's fair to chastise an organization for upholding their competing interest. The above can be all disregarded if Canadians don't have similar rights, it was just a thought.