Horseplay - Toolbox Topics Download
You might’ve seen a lot of horseplay at our worksites. People pushing each other, throwing tools, pulling chairs, scaring others with loud noise, and so on. If asked, the reason given is, “we were just having fun”. This reason is a poor excuse for possible accidents, which could be slight or could be fatal. Far from being humorous, horseplay is unsafe, stupid and may cause serious consequences. It is thoroughly out of place at a worksite. It is a violation of company safety rules and every effort should be made to discourage it.
Most of us have a good sense of humor and enjoy a good laugh. But a sense of humor and horseplay are not really as closely related, as they might seem. Horseplay often carries many of the characteristics of cruelty, and you can add irresponsibility and immaturity to that too.
On one construction site, two men were fatally burned to death when a fellow employee threw a can of what he thought was water at them. It wasn’t water; it was gasoline! . A torch one of the victims was using immediately ignited this gasoline. Likewise, jokesters who play around with compressed air are turning a hose into a dangerous weapon that can put out an eye, rupture an eardrum, or cause painful hemorrhage.
There is probably one on every job; the practical joker, the guy who likes to make a bid for laughs and attention by playing jokes on his fellow workers. He thinks he’s funny and clever. Unfortunately he can usually find a few fellow employees unwise enough to encourage him. Actually this fellow is dangerous. His horseplay is a hazard to all his fellow employees. His foolishness should not be tolerated by any of you.
If you have this sort working with you, it is your responsibility to talk to him confidentially. Try to make him realize that such acts can result in serious injury to others. If you emphasize that horseplay is unfair, stupid, and treacherous, any reasonable person will cooperate in avoiding it.
