This Group Is All About People Ignoring Safety As If They’re Immortal, Here Are 40 Of The Worst (New Pics)
Depending on what your job is, workplace safety can range from getting a stiff wrist to all sorts of daily life and death situations. Fortunately, at least if you are in the US, there is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to make sure your employer does their utmost to prevent any injury. However, just because there is a rule doesn’t mean all employers actually follow it.
The “r/OSHA” online is dedicated to documenting the most atrocious, random and grimly hilarious workplace safety violations. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.
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The More You Look The Worse It Gets
Is This Structurally Sound?
Safety Standards In 1960
If you ask some of us older folks we'll tell you many a tale of the "old days" when this sort of thing was the norm.
While most countries have their own equivalent, OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has become the catch-all method of discussing workplace safety or lack thereof. Founded in 1970 by Richard Nixon, its task was by no means simple.
The agency was designed to “"assure safe and healthy working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education, and assistance." After all, in many jobs, bad days happen, but there are “best practices” that can be put in place to limit just how often workers end up falling off ladders.
Covered In Stainless Steel Dust With No Face Masks Or Respirators
Like polishing a cybertruck wasn’t already dumb enough…
Fuel Spill Clean-Up
It's her having a lit cigarette while working near spilt gasoline that's the problem.
We All Like A Little Bit Of Shade Right?
I'm sure somebody slapped it and said, "That ain't going nowhere." and they were almost certainly right.
If you are surprised by the late date of OSHA’s founding, it’s worth pointing out that the US already had some job safety regulations and oversight since the 1930s, put in place by the Bureau of Labor Standards of the Department of Labor. Even this seems shockingly “late” given the prevalence of heavy industry in the US, but it’s better than nothing.
The Lock Is To Prevent The Fire Escaping
Construction Workers At Epcot, Disneyworld, Early 1980s
Hired A Company To Remove A Tree. Came Home To This:
However, OSHA isn’t some all-knowing and all-seeing organization, it really does need people to report violations. As these images show, many job sites are unsafe because managers are lazy or want to cut costs. While the worst that might happen to some of us is a sore wrist or bad-posture-induced pain, in certain jobs something going wrong can lead to significantly worse outcomes.
Huh, So That Is Why They Told Me To X-Ray The Ground First
Shockingly Dumb Placement
I Mean If The Grabber Is Closed Before Getting In I Don't See The Harm
This Is How My Great Grandpa Stored His Dynamite, Passed Away, And Left Me To Deal With It Christmas Eve
Chained And Locked Fire Exit
Pure Waste
That Should Do It
What My Grandpa Was Using To Change Photos Above The Stairs
At Least He Let His Wife Drive
Grandpa’s Asbestos Tin
He uses it to anneal metal.
Only A Matter Of Time Until Maximizing Profits. Bankrupts The Whole Company
100s of racks damaged way beyond being safe. It’s a game of Jenga stacking 1000s of pounds up in overstock. Just a matter of time until something horrible happens.
Don't stack anything on it. Leave it all in the yard, take everything down. Let the upper mgmt and CEO deal with it. It's not worth the risk.
From A Power Washer Advertisement: Look How Easy It Cuts Through Soft Material!
Totally Safe, It's A Load-Bearing Dumpster
On some of these I would like to see the scene being set. Just how DO they get this in place?
New Ceiling Lights In My Workplace Are Powered By Putting 220v Mains Voltage Into Metal Railing With Scissor Clips. The Ceilings Are Low Enough That I Could Touch The Railings If I Stretch Enough. They Were Done This Way For "Aesthetics"
Drinking Coffee While Working With Isotopes At Lab
Saw This Outside My Office Today, What A Lovely Place To Relax Before Starting The Job
I Get Really Nervous When Adam Savage Wears His Watch (And Ring) While Machining. Shouldn't He Consider Removing These Items Before Machining?
What's The Fastest Way To Get Workers On A Roof?
Removing Lead Paint With A Blowtorch Without A Mask
Saw This At A Bar I Deliver To
My Guys' Sense Of Humor When I Point Out Three Uncovered Hole Hazards On A Job Site
Got Canned Yesterday For Pointing Out This Massive Violation
Invisible Forklift
We Carried 50 Beds, 50 Cupboards, 50 Sideboards And 50 Wall Cabinets Over That Pitfall
Suggested Friend. This Is His Facebook Picture
It’s A Fun Day When Nothing Is Locked Out!
I Found An Electrician Wearing This
Bro Forgot To Use The Volt Cutters
There Is An Osha Violation, And Than There Is Pure Madness
OSHA doesn't regulate people engaged in recreation, especially in Russia. I'm sure there's at least one YT video of this guy doing far more dangerous stuff, and maybe even a video of the last time he did something dangerous.
Saw On My Facebook.. Dude Grinding Right Into The Produce
Road Out Front My Parents’ Place In Rural West Getting Re-Paved
OSHA can be kind of a joke itself if you’ve ever tried turning in your own company. I never got finished with the paperwork, but my former retired boss turned some in and he didn’t even tell me until almost a year later. Everyone else was too scared and everyone assumed it would be me. So yeah, guess who got fired eventually. At least they did fix a couple of the problems. But unless someone loses an arm or leg OSHA doesn’t seem to care.
They should title this article "Darwin Awards in the making"
I used to work at a steel stockholder, we would cut beams to size using an oxyacetylene torch. We had a new cutter join us who was a little lax with his connection checking. We were under strict instructions not to enter the cutting area whilst he was cutting beams. His acetylene connection was leaking at the top of the regulator, he didn’t know, he carried on cutting and the leak caught fire. He flipped out at me when I disturbed him mid cut and started to rant about safety. I got to walk away saying ‘well I won’t tell you that your bottle is on fire then….’. Fire got extinguished but the fire service attended and we got shut down until the bottle cooled down. Our proximity to Manchester Airport meant flights got a small reroute to avoid our building. Luckily no harm came to anyone or the building but our cutter got a royal rollocking. Got a plasma cutter not long after that incident 😀
That's bloody frightening.. There was an incident near where I'm from (opposite end of the country to you, Hampshire) in the mid nineties, fire and explosion in garage. Out in the villages, converted barn or something, one of these places where the same old boy's owned and worked there since 876AD when he started mending cart wheels, you know the kind of place. Building and everything in it was razed to the ground, total loss. I can't remember now if the fire lead to the explosion or if the explosion lead to the fire, but the thing that sticks in mind is that two months after the event and dog walker found the remains of an acetylene regulator still attached to the threads from an acetylene bottle in a field half a mile away from the garage..
Load More Replies...The only violation I've seen at my job is the time our snow removal company found a great place to pile a post-blizzard mess...right up against our emergency exit. Nobody noticed until--get this--a fire engine was stopped at a red light and happened to see it. Fire marshal showed up and shut us down until we got the snow taken care of. Boss asked if employees could still work. Marshal gave her a great WTF look and said um...NO.
If you don't believe in natural selection, you're not paying attention!
Check out videos of industries in Pakistan. Guys working with molten metal wearing sandals ...... no joke !
Friend is a tower crane operator. They had this one kid that just absolutely refused to tether when he was out on the catwalk. So one day this kid and another worker were out on the boom and the senior worker eases the tether on the kids harness and then starts berating him about not being tethered. Kid stands and spins and tells senior worker "you couldn't push me off here!" And off he went. Yep he pushed him off. Friend said the look on that kids face was priceless. They didn't have to tell him to tether after that.
There are a number of Darwin award candidates - does anyone know if they actually won the Darwin award?
OSHA can be kind of a joke itself if you’ve ever tried turning in your own company. I never got finished with the paperwork, but my former retired boss turned some in and he didn’t even tell me until almost a year later. Everyone else was too scared and everyone assumed it would be me. So yeah, guess who got fired eventually. At least they did fix a couple of the problems. But unless someone loses an arm or leg OSHA doesn’t seem to care.
They should title this article "Darwin Awards in the making"
I used to work at a steel stockholder, we would cut beams to size using an oxyacetylene torch. We had a new cutter join us who was a little lax with his connection checking. We were under strict instructions not to enter the cutting area whilst he was cutting beams. His acetylene connection was leaking at the top of the regulator, he didn’t know, he carried on cutting and the leak caught fire. He flipped out at me when I disturbed him mid cut and started to rant about safety. I got to walk away saying ‘well I won’t tell you that your bottle is on fire then….’. Fire got extinguished but the fire service attended and we got shut down until the bottle cooled down. Our proximity to Manchester Airport meant flights got a small reroute to avoid our building. Luckily no harm came to anyone or the building but our cutter got a royal rollocking. Got a plasma cutter not long after that incident 😀
That's bloody frightening.. There was an incident near where I'm from (opposite end of the country to you, Hampshire) in the mid nineties, fire and explosion in garage. Out in the villages, converted barn or something, one of these places where the same old boy's owned and worked there since 876AD when he started mending cart wheels, you know the kind of place. Building and everything in it was razed to the ground, total loss. I can't remember now if the fire lead to the explosion or if the explosion lead to the fire, but the thing that sticks in mind is that two months after the event and dog walker found the remains of an acetylene regulator still attached to the threads from an acetylene bottle in a field half a mile away from the garage..
Load More Replies...The only violation I've seen at my job is the time our snow removal company found a great place to pile a post-blizzard mess...right up against our emergency exit. Nobody noticed until--get this--a fire engine was stopped at a red light and happened to see it. Fire marshal showed up and shut us down until we got the snow taken care of. Boss asked if employees could still work. Marshal gave her a great WTF look and said um...NO.
If you don't believe in natural selection, you're not paying attention!
Check out videos of industries in Pakistan. Guys working with molten metal wearing sandals ...... no joke !
Friend is a tower crane operator. They had this one kid that just absolutely refused to tether when he was out on the catwalk. So one day this kid and another worker were out on the boom and the senior worker eases the tether on the kids harness and then starts berating him about not being tethered. Kid stands and spins and tells senior worker "you couldn't push me off here!" And off he went. Yep he pushed him off. Friend said the look on that kids face was priceless. They didn't have to tell him to tether after that.
There are a number of Darwin award candidates - does anyone know if they actually won the Darwin award?