Is it possible to be too safe

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They want to lower workman's compensation claims. They want a safe work place environment. But, at what cost? Not only does having your employees document every possible safety hazard throughout the day take time, you have to have someone to coordinate these efforts, document the documentation and follow up on every little thing.

If you aren't going to follow up, then you're just opening yourself up for greater lawsuits should something happen. They knew there was a cord between the printer and the outlet, yet no one covered it up! They knew it was a danger. Here are 14 cards written by employees saying it was atripping hazard! It also makes your employees not trust you as much when you speak of real dangers.

And why should they? If I've got to sit down each day and figure the safety hazards of my job typing on a non-ergonomic keyboard can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome, holding my phone with my shoulder so I can type with both hands can lead to neck problems, sitting too long in one place can lead to blood clots in my legs , I'm going to laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole thing. So, when I get the 42nd memo documenting a "safety hazard" I'm not likely to read it, even though this particular one may actually contain something critical.

Corporate safety consultants and executives point out that strict rules for office safety can reduce injuries, cut down on workers' comp costs, make employees more aware of the dangers their colleagues in the field are facing and promote teamwork. Yes, strict rules for safety can reduce injury. This is why we require steel toed shoes in manufacturing areas, make sure that that all lab workers wear the proper protective gear, and give our fork lift operators training.

We now live in a uniquely safe, but also a uniquely safety-conscious era. In modern societies, people tend to be disproportionately scared of many things that are of minimal threat to them. Ironically, precautionary measures designed to make us safer also make us more vulnerable to fear. But in any case, do all humans prefer safety? And if so, how much safety is good for us? Do helmets, seatbelts, and airport safety checks make us happier?

Do post-accident inquests produce rational responses? Do they make us feel safer, and if so is that what we want and like? And if a safety device or precaution seems directly to make us safer, will that optimism still be valid if you consider indirect and longer-term effects, such as the risks of boredom or complacency, or the missed opportunities for learning from mistakes?

Since it is unlikely that statistics and utilitarian calculus will ever answer these questions, we must largely fall back on everyday observations, qualitative enquiry, common sense, and reasonable debate. Ultimately, debates about safety ethics are about happiness. This requires us to assess carefully the trade-offs between security and other things that make people enjoy their lives and flourish.

For example, plenty of people seem to like living dangerously. And accident victims often seem to not only bounce back, but even to experience post-traumatic growth. That is, they recognise the accident as an important turning point leading to an enriched or wiser life.