The Faces of Safety

Chapter 12: The Lives Affected

Everyone is touched when an injury happens at work: the coworker, the family, the community, no one is exempt.

Who are the people affected by the death of an employee? Do you know? Do you care? If one of your employees died today, how many lives would be destroyed? How many parents would be affected? How many wives and husbands would have to walk through life alone, picking up the shattered pieces left behind in the name of business?

There are not too many jobs that are worth dying for. The military, law enforcement, nursing, and firefighting: these jobs have an inherently dangerous aspect, and those performing these jobs and their families understand that danger, that possibility.

Even if there were only one life affected, that is one too many. We go to work every day expecting to return home and enjoy the ones we’re with. Then tragedy strikes, a life is taken, and families are changed forever.

As the CEO, ask yourself what would happen if your loved one died at work today? How would your life be affected? How about the lives of your children? What about the parents that depend on you to help them? What about the first steps of your new baby, the birthdays, the graduations, the hugs, and kisses that will never be. Think about that before you put your employees into a dangerous situation.

Production, quality, shipping, and the overall emotional state of your company can and will be affected. How will you manage it? The lives affected specifically at work will find many expressions, such as anger, distancing, emotional highs and lows, and withdrawal. All of these will have a profound effect on your business.

We tend to forget about the families of those affected by workplace injuries and fatalities. It’s my purpose in writing this book that we don’t forget about those who are not seen. These are what I call the true faces of safety. These are the husbands and wives, babies and children, brothers and sisters, moms, and dads. These are the loved ones who cry out in the night with a voice you do not hear. They are deprived of emotional, physical, sexual, and spiritual support. They feel like they have no hope and no connection and feel desperate to keep the rest of their family together.

Remember the story of Lee Shelby; all the emotional pain suffered by those he loved and those in his immediate circle.

Do you realize the number of lives that are affected by one injury let alone a fatality?

How many CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and supervisors stay in touch with families that are in true suffering? Could you tell me their names? How many of you have even taken the time necessary to check on your employees? We talk about being a family, and about caring for one another. Are they just words, or are we practicing what we preach? Are we extending care and resources to family members in need? How about to their coworkers, who come to work every day still burdened by the event that has just taken place? Or, are you just doing the bare minimum?

Why is it important to be aware of your employees’ emotional states? Because you can reduce the possibility of having another catastrophe. Your employees and their families’ well-being can be the turning point in the success of your business.

Extend yourself, be involved, and touch the lives of those who have touched your life, your business, and the other employees called family.

To get a copy of The Faces of Safety and Those Left Behind When Tragedy Strikes, visit Amazon, Walmart, or my website davidaward.com.