Most of us know that accidents are caused by only two things – unsafe acts or practices, and unsafe conditions. Some of us even know that 9 out of 10 accidents are the result of unsafe acts, or things we do when we know better. This is kind of strange if you think about it. We have more to fear from our own actions than from any other job hazards around us. Why do we deliberately expose ourselves to injury every day?

We take shortcuts.

Some of us are fairly meticulous about following safe work practices, but because a job “will only take a minute” we use an unsafe method or tool. For example, not putting on our PPE because the job will only take a minute, or not putting the machine in ESP because an adjustment will only take a second.

Rushing is one of the main causes for taking shortcuts. No task is that important that it can’t be done safely. Yes, we all have goals and objectives to meet, but more importantly is that we meet them the same way we started . . . with all our parts intact.

Frustration is another cause for taking shortcuts. We get frustrated with machines, people, processes and rather than stopping and thinking. . . we just do it. We get so wound up in the moment we don’t look at the things that are important.

Shortcuts. . . they aren’t worth the price.