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803 Scaffold Safety Program Management
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A Word about Common Sense

This topic may be a little controversial, and you may not agree, but in a word, common sense is quite "uncommon." It's common to hear someone say, "he should have used common sense about that," but it's never really appropriate to make that assumption.

Cartoon of man cutting the branch that's supporting his own weight
Common sense is not so common.

Actually, everyone has either a unique "good sense" or "poor sense" about what is appropriate or safe. We each gain a certain sense about things be based on our unique personal genetics, previous personal experience, and training.

Using the "common sense" excuse for accidents makes it easy to prematurely blame the worker. It's also a way to quickly divert possible personal blame on oneself from being considered. Before making a judgment and blaming the worker, it is important for managers to first analyze the company's safety management system to rule out failures in planning, policies, programs, processes, procedures, and safe-practices that might have contributed to the accident. Only after system failures have been ruled out, should discipline for intentional non-compliance be considered.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

2-11. When should discipline for intentional non-compliance by an employee be considered?