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And depending on the situation, they may be right to. My friend does workplace safety at various facilities, and the amount of people who skirt basic safety pri

And depending on the situation, they may be right to. My friend does workplace safety at various facilities, and the amount of people who skirt basic safety principles like using hand rails and paying attention near machinery is astonishing. One even broke their legs falling down stairs because they refused to use the handrails, then attempted to sue the construction company for damages. Needless to say they got told to fuck off. At a certain point, the safety personnel can only watch in horror as basic OSHA guidelines are ignored at every step. Of course it may be a case that the safety personnel were incompetent and not training employees, but I say its a 50/50 whether it was their fault or not.

listenallyall 3y ago
I wouldn't consider that "needless to say", most adults don't rely on a handrail to descend stairs. I would guess in this case "refused" to use a handrail would require an enormous amount of proof, and the stairs themself, why were they so dangerous that using a handrail is the only way to use them safely? Maybe, at the very least, they could have been padded, or had a landing halfway down, etc.
- tourmalinetaco 3y ago
  > most adults don't rely on a handrail to descend stairs. And that is inherently unsafe. You take that risk, and it is your fault alone if you are injured because of it. > enormous amount of proof This was a work site, there are cameras everywhere. If the CCTV shows you running down the stairs without use of the hand rail and falling, that is more than sufficient evidence that you broke your own legs. > why were [stairs] so dangerous They’re fucking stairs. No amount of padding or landings can successfully mitigate falling in a way that breaks your body. And both come with large downsides. The best I have ever heard for padding is carpet, which requires regular deep cleans and can become smoothed over time, increasing the likelihood of a fall. And landings require far more space than one might think, and only help so much. The stairs were OSHA compliant and fully safe if one takes them properly. The problem was that individual decided they were above safety and permanently damaged their body as a result.
  - listenallyall 3y ago
    Take it easy, bro... nobody said you were wrong, just that it isn't a certainty that the person was in the wrong based on your very limited initial description. This was your friend's story, right? Are you sure you know ALL the details and not just the company's side? Were there extenuating circumstances -- any liquids nearby, were all workers provided proper footwear? You didn't say he was running (however, why was he running? did a manager tell him he needed to hurry, did he not have enough time for a bathroom break? etc) and stairs come in all shapes, sizes, steepness, lengths, materials, and hardness of the floors under them. Nothing can 100% prevent injuries, but you can try to avoid the worst scenario. It's a factory, I get it, maybe it's not possible, but I would want to know if there had been any prior similar incidents. In any case, no matters whose fault, it still doesn't seem necessary to tell the guy to "fuck off." We're not looking to try the case, just pointing out that it's pretty ridiculous to immediately claim a workplace incident is entirely the worker's fault.

listenallyall 3y ago

I wouldn't consider that "needless to say", most adults don't rely on a handrail to descend stairs. I would guess in this case "refused" to use a handrail would require an enormous amount of proof, and the stairs themself, why were they so dangerous that using a handrail is the only way to use them safely? Maybe, at the very least, they could have been padded, or had a landing halfway down, etc.

tourmalinetaco 3y ago
> most adults don't rely on a handrail to descend stairs. And that is inherently unsafe. You take that risk, and it is your fault alone if you are injured because of it. > enormous amount of proof This was a work site, there are cameras everywhere. If the CCTV shows you running down the stairs without use of the hand rail and falling, that is more than sufficient evidence that you broke your own legs. > why were [stairs] so dangerous They’re fucking stairs. No amount of padding or landings can successfully mitigate falling in a way that breaks your body. And both come with large downsides. The best I have ever heard for padding is carpet, which requires regular deep cleans and can become smoothed over time, increasing the likelihood of a fall. And landings require far more space than one might think, and only help so much. The stairs were OSHA compliant and fully safe if one takes them properly. The problem was that individual decided they were above safety and permanently damaged their body as a result.
- listenallyall 3y ago
  Take it easy, bro... nobody said you were wrong, just that it isn't a certainty that the person was in the wrong based on your very limited initial description. This was your friend's story, right? Are you sure you know ALL the details and not just the company's side? Were there extenuating circumstances -- any liquids nearby, were all workers provided proper footwear? You didn't say he was running (however, why was he running? did a manager tell him he needed to hurry, did he not have enough time for a bathroom break? etc) and stairs come in all shapes, sizes, steepness, lengths, materials, and hardness of the floors under them. Nothing can 100% prevent injuries, but you can try to avoid the worst scenario. It's a factory, I get it, maybe it's not possible, but I would want to know if there had been any prior similar incidents. In any case, no matters whose fault, it still doesn't seem necessary to tell the guy to "fuck off." We're not looking to try the case, just pointing out that it's pretty ridiculous to immediately claim a workplace incident is entirely the worker's fault.