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And You Thought Work Was Dangerous
I took my nine-year-old daughter
skiing this week. It was a very busy weekend and I was
scared to death! I have done a lot of ski mountaineering
but very little downhill skiing, so I was not used to
the crowds. People were zipping all around us at high
speeds and many of them appeared to be out of control.
There was a period in my past when I lived in ski resort
towns for over ten years. Back then, many of my friends
were professional ski patrollers. From talking to them,
and through my own 20 years’ experience as a paramedic,
I know what bad things can happen when two bodies
collide at twenty miles per hour. People get hurt.
So I was especially careful with my daughter. I made
sure she wore her helmet and was very forceful with my
instructions that she must make a lot of turns to stay
in control and not get going too fast I also told her to
watch out for other people. They may not see her, be in
control or be able to stop.
Face it: there is potential danger on a ski hill. Let’s
take that same situation into the workplace. Imagine
hundreds of people running around or riding bicycles in
your plant or worksite. They are zipping by you at
speeds ranging from two to thirty mph. They may or may
not be in control — you don’t know. And they may or may
not even see you — you don’t know. This behavior would
not be allowed at your workplace. Maybe that’s why there
are more injuries off the job than on the job.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t go
skiing. It is a great sport. It’s important to realize,
however, that smashed bones hurt just as much off the
job as on the job. Use caution when participating in
everything you do both on and off the job.
The reason I’m writing this is that a beautiful
seven-year-old girl died on the ski hill the day before
my daughter and I were on the slopes. The girl was
wearing a helmet when she skied into a tree, but it
wasn’t enough to protect her. This showed me once again
that a fun, exciting family outing can turn into tragedy
in the blink of an eye.
Make safety a priority in everything you do.
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Martin Lesperance
firefighter/paramedic,
speaker, best selling author
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