A new client in the Middle East had an appalling record of injuries, on reviewing accident reports, I found the management totally abdicated their responsibility, they did not find one underlying course of more than 40 accidents, and instead they blamed the workers, so I drafted the following letter for the meeting I had planned, Gentlemen, I thought I’d start by offering an apology to your not yet fatally injured workers who are going to die this year unless we do something differently.

 My Dear “Not Yet Dead or Injured Worker”

I’d like to sincerely say in advance to you that I’m very sorry that you are going to die this year. Although we don’t know exactly which of you reading this will die, which will be injured or which will suffer an agonizing slow death through an Industrial disease, what we do know that some of you will die in a work related traffic accident. We know that some will die of an industrial disease like Mesothelioma and that some of you will be fatally injured in a dramatic workplace incident like a fall or an explosion.

Here’s what your management team and co-workers would say to you after you’re gone, so I thought you should hear it now. Hopefully by reading this open letter may get you and the people you work with to prevent your future fatal or disabling injury.

This man had to climb 42 stories like a monkey, no proper scaffold is provided,

It is only a matter of time, before a fall to death, it is 84% hot, no harness or lifeline, the laborer from India, said he was instructed to set up a working

Platform, just planks laid side by side.

I want to tell you that we’re sorry that:

• We didn’t take the time to make sure that you understood the safe behaviors you needed to follow so you would go home every night to your family,
• We didn’t give you the right tools to do your job safely,
• We assumed because you were a seasoned veteran at your job we didn’t have to remind you to take those important precautions of wearing your personal protective equipment,
• We rushed through the last safety meeting so we could get back to work sooner,
• We forgot to look where you were before we backed up the vehicle,
• We didn’t have a more experienced worker with you to guide you through the safe operating procedures,
• We didn’t put up the guardrails,
• We didn’t think that you would fall asleep behind the wheel because we scheduled long work shifts and worked you overtime to the point of your exhaustion,
• We talked to you on your cell phone when we knew you were driving,
• We didn’t provide a machinery lockout process for you to follow,
• We showed you a shortcut to follow that eventually killed you,
• We followed a different level of safety during the week than on the weekend when no one else is around,
• We didn’t recognize sooner in your career that the chemicals and substances that we had you working with were hazardous to your long term health,
• We didn’t learn from the last time this happened to someone,
• We didn’t make sure that someone was held accountable to fix the thing that fatally injured you,
• We made fun of you because you usually took the time to be extra careful,
• We let you work at heights without the fall arrest equipment,
• We let you enter that confined space without following the gas testing procedures,
• We didn’t ensure that the safety rules we have here actually are the way it is around here,
• We didn’t check to make sure the equipment you were working with was properly maintained,
• We gave you work that exposed you to uncontrolled hazards,
• We didn’t think about your safety when we asked you to rush that last job,
• We sent you down into that trench without shoring,
• We ignored the fact that you usually don’t wear your seatbelt,
• We didn’t remember that the overhead power line we touched with the crane was there,

I am deeply sorry that I had to write this letter, but the ILO estimated that over two point two million people are killed and over 160 million are injured or become ill due to work hazards every year while at work 270 million work accidents worldwide, while Studies in Europe revealed that between 3% and 5% of GNP is lost due to accidents every year. International Labor Organization. Sadly, I shall have to write a similar letter to thousands of employers around the world, in the hopes of making employers think about the health and safety of their workers.   

Most importantly we’re sorry that your mother & father lost their child. We’re so very sorry that your brothers & sisters have lost their sibling; that your sons and daughters will grow up without you and that your spouse will never hold you again…For these things we’re truly sorry and wish we had done something differently.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr. Bill Pomfret.

BIO:
Dr Bill Pomfret; MSc; FIOSH; RSP. FRSH;
Founder & President.
Safety Projects International Inc, &
Dr. Bill Pomfret & Associates.
26 Drysdale Street, Kanata, Ontario.K2K 3L3.
www.spi5star.com      pomfretb@spi5star.com
Tel 613-2549233