Is Workplace Safety Merely Common Sense?

January 7th, 2010 | by Dr. Saraf |
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Surprisingly, many organization and professionals believe that safety can be achieved by common sense. Here is an excellent article from Kevin Jones’ Safety at Work blog about common sense and safety:

Safety is More Than Common Sense

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  1. 2 Responses to “Is Workplace Safety Merely Common Sense?”

  2. By jesse on Jan 7, 2010 | Reply

    http://nplewis.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/uncommon-sense/

    “Common sense, however, is one of those phrases that would benefit from some explication. The phrase seems to have two types of meaning:

    1. Common sense is simple. It’s easy to grasp when the subject is complicated, such as health care. We yearn for a simple solution in a complex world. Global warming is a complex problem. We want a common-sense solution.

    2. Common sense is popular. I can agree with the proposal and so can most people, who, after all, think like me, too. Proposed solutions or positions on issues that fit my way of thinking make sense to me. Ideas that contradict my way of thinking don’t seem sensible. Common sense reflects my ideals.

    What we really need is uncommon sense — people like pamphleteer Thomas Paine. We need people today who have the courage to take unpopular stands to promote solutions to difficult problems such as global warming. But that’s not common sense.”

    People use the term “common sense” to be dismissive of others but it really points out their dismissal of the issue they are TRYING to sound intelligent about.

  3. By Norman Umberger, P.E. on Feb 28, 2010 | Reply

    my comment on the original…
    How ironic is that some folks are critical of common sense being used dismissively and yet are so dismissive of the phrase?

    I don’t buy into even camp: 1) common sense solves all, or 2) common sense is not so common and often harmful.

    However, I would much rather have folks exercising common sense then blinding following even the best procedure, checklist, etc. The former group will stop before placing themselves into danger even though they do not know how to overcome the hazard and the later will follow a lemming off an Artic cliff, if that is step no. 6, check, please.

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