We have safety rules for a reason (often a very good reason). But sometimes they can cause problems. For example, I have arthritis in my feet, and I have taken to wearing sandals to better manage the pain. Normally this is not a problem, but if I call on a client, and they have footwear rules, this can be a problem for me.
I recently visited an industrial site. I was going to only be in the office building – I was not going to go into the process at all. I asked the guard at the gate if I could wear my sandals onto his site.
I had my steel-toed shoes in a bag (if required) so I was willing and able to comply with the site rules, but I did ask for an exception. The guard looked at my feet (it is a big fashion mistake to wear socks with sandals, so he could see the deformities in my feet), understood the issue, and asked permission. It took about 10 minutes to get a ruling, but the answer was … yes I could, if I stayed in one building. My host said that would not be a problem, so I was granted access to an industrial site with my sandals. I am sure some eyebrows were raised.
I have not had 100% success with this request. A few months ago, I delivered a training course to a power plant. Same request, completely different outcome. Here, it took about 3 seconds to make a decision – the rule had no flexibility at all, and I had to wear my steel toed shoes. I felt my performance suffered a little, as I had to deliver a training course with sore feet, but the evaluations showed I did well enough, and they did not notice my sore feet.
I have also taken a new part-time role at one of the local universities, and I saw the exception to safety rule in action. On campus, there is a laboratory that requires safety equipment (glasses, lab coat, etc). Inside the laboratory are two offices shared by seven post-graduate students. These students “have assumed that they do not enter the laboratory when walking to and from their office”. I raised this issue with the Head of the Department, and she acknowledged that it was a bad place to put an office (which it was) and agreed to look into the situation. As of this writing, I have not been back to that building, so I cannot confirm that action has been taken.
There are other examples. One involved a facility that has an oily-salty water pond, with the water being treated. The untreated water is considered toxic. One day a swan landed in the water, was swimming, and drinking the contaminated water. After contacting various animal authorities, such as the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), local veterinarians, etc, it was decided the best course of action was to kill the swan. Guns were not allowed on site, so “extra” special approval was required to allow a member of the RSPCA to bring a firearm onto site. Prior to that time, even the police had to check their firearms at the security gate.
The site safety rules will vary from site to site based on specific situations and circumstances. Some facilities do not allow phones with cameras (security risk). Other facilities require you to leave your car keys at the gate, as the radio transmission caused by pressing the “remote lock / unlock” buttons can interfere with plant operations. One site I visited required us to surrender our credit cards before entering the plant – they used a strong electromagnetic field that would de-sensitise the magnetic strip on the credit card.
In society, there are other times it is acceptable to “break” safety rules. For example, it is common for an ambulance to exceed the speed limit (even on wet roads).
But the question for me is … what is the best way to manage exceptions to the safety rules? Is it best to have a “no exceptions” policy? If that is the case, then an ambulance must adhere to site speed limits for medical evacuations. Or are exceptions allowed, and what are the systems needed to allow exceptions? My site visit where they let me use my sandals appeared to be a no-paper trail decision (but maybe the paperwork was done in the background and I did not see it happen).
What is your experience? We would love to hear from you.