r/SafetyProfessionals • u/OSHAEducationCenter • 6d ago
USA What’s the strangest safety violation you’ve ever witnessed?
Anything weird, off-putting, or extremely dangerous—share your story!
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u/Ken_Thomas Construction 6d ago
If you lay a whacker (technically a standing vibratory hammer, I think) on it's side and open the throttle, it will shoot across the ground pretty quickly. You can even sit on them and ride them. This is both crazy dangerous and damages the hell out of the whacker.
One of our superintendents was staging whacker races in the laydown yard.
When I asked him what could have possessed him to do such a thing, he said "It gets a shitload of views on TikTok."
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u/Imaginary_Tart_1909 6d ago
A contractor was cooking his tacos with a blowtorch on a steel plate.
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u/Cactus_Le_Sam 6d ago
To be fair that plate was probably completely sanitized so at least it's health code safe
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u/who-are-we-anyway 5d ago
I've had guys on job site using pvc conduit heaters as hot plates for cooking food 🤦🏼♀️
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u/feykitty 6d ago
Guy working at a shot blaster, moving 35lb metal parts onto the conveyor belt. Work station is on gator grate. Got a report of someone not wearing their safety shoes. Assumed that it was someone wearing street shoes. Nope- shot blast dude was in socks on the gator grate happily putting parts on the conveyor. Boots right next to him. When asked, he told us (in a tone that suggested we were idiots) that the training said he must have his safety shoes, not that he had to wear them.
Also had someone drink disinfectant from a big dispensing unit clearly labeled disinfectant during COVID... by putting his mouth on the spigot. No cup. He told us that he thought it was kool-aid for everyone to drink. I told him that still doesn't explain why he'd put his mouth on the spigot. He also told us he thought the first gulp was a little spicy but kept going anyway.
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u/all_these_carrots 1d ago
It's giving "Andy putting his mouth all the way around the drinking fountain spigot" in parks and rec
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u/UglyInThMorning 6d ago
Does doing IV meth in a bathroom while drunk then trying to fight me count?
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u/DSEdwards 6d ago
Found 2 55gal trashcans full of hydraulic fluid, used as temporary transfer storage.
A dozen or so extension cords and a few weld leads run laying in the tideline, so when high tide came in they were all submerged.
A 64 y/o man jumping a 3ft gap from a JLG basket to a tugboat in dry dock, 45ft up.
Shipyard are a gold mine of stupid, especially commercial ones.
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u/shadow6654 6d ago
I think I still have a picture somewhere of a guy standing on a two-step balanced on bare floor joists above an open basement, while he was trying to remove drywall from a ceiling.
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u/quokkafarts 6d ago
Person who we just couldn't keep out of the walk in freezer. She'd put on a coat and hide there at every available opportunity, eat her lunch in there, any chance at all and wouldn't move until clock off. Wouldn't move when new deliveries were coming on, even during a fire alarm one time she stayed. There was some mental health stuff going on so we tried to negotiate a better spot but nope, and she refused to explain why. She was fired for literally just chilling in the freezer all day instead of doing work, was found in the freezer again the next week and had the cops called.
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u/KTX77625 6d ago
People blasting electrical cabinets and boxes boy rated waterproof with high pressure water despite repeated warnings, multiple signs, discipline, etc.
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u/AllCheesedOut 6d ago
A half full open 5 gallon bucket (like a Home Depot one) of gas which when asked they stated they were using it to clean block filler insulation off of their cordless drill. And yes, when asked, they said their drill had started on fire a couple of times but “wasn’t too bad”
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u/Odd_Adhesiveness_428 6d ago
I had a very creative guy who needed to weld a section of a vessel maneuver a forklift into position, raise a pallet to 8’ in height, then grab a ladder, climb up on the pallet, and do the weld in the prone position. All while the forklift was still on, with no PPE, while a crowd gathered around him in the shop to watch in awe as he committed multiple safety violations.
Needless to say he was very angry that we called him down and stopped him from doing his job. He ended up fired. Very smart guy, but just kinda… crazy.
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u/RiffRaff028 Consulting 6d ago
CEO told employees to heat a long stainless steel trough using exposed electric heaters in such a way that the water would have become energized, and probably the steel itself. He also told them not to tell me about it, which of course, they did anyway, and I shut it down before it even got plugged in. He was pissed, but he knew I had zero problems reporting him to OSHA or coming after him legally if he fired me for doing my job.
It was an extremely stressful time early in my career.
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u/Vaulk7 6d ago
I wish I was making this up,
I was in my work room on a 7-story vertical construction project when I got a call from one of my Foremen on the 5th floor. He said there were strange smelling fumes on their floor and some of his guys were starting to feel sick.
I walked to that side of the building on the first floor and I IMMEDIATELY smelled it. If you've ever been in a small space when a lithium battery explodes and releases toxic vapors...that's what it smelled and felt like. It's a burning, stinging sensation in the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. I told him to get his crew over to the otherside of the building and evacuate. I held my breath and entered the stairwell that had plastic over it and that's when I saw it.
A 2.5gal black bucket with a GIANT skull and crossbones over the front in the bright red pictograph. Methyl Alcohol. I ran up the stairs past multiple workers wearing full bunny suits with respirators and hit the 3rd floor, pushing all my guys out. I called the rest of the foremen and instructed them to evacuate their crews on the opposite side of the building.
I took a photo of the bucket and went online to get the SDS, where I found the following:
- Acutely fatal to breath
- Known carcinogen
- Explosive
- Flammable
- Known Mutagen
- Known sterilizing agent to reproductive organs
- Fumes can cause blindness (Temporary or permanent)
- Cannot be diluted to make safe
- Lighting must be explosive rated for use in enclosed spaces
Never in 20 years of hazard analysis and risk management have I ever seen something so toxic, not even CARC Paint is THAT bad. I ripped the Project Safety Coordinator and the Superintendent of the painting crew a new asshole over that one. 70 Electricians had to be removed from the jobsite because painters brought he wrong cleanser to the stairwell and began spreading it all over the metal to prepare it to be painted.
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u/Internal-Challenge97 5d ago
That’s just Methanol, a basic solvent. It’s obviously dangerous , but not where near the most toxic thing ever. You must not work around many hazardous things.
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u/Vaulk7 4d ago
I neglected to mention when I said that they brought the wrong chemical, that it was Methyl Alcohol Marina fuel.
2.1. Classification of the substance or mixture
Classification according to Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Substances and Mixtures (SEA) Regulation published in the Official Journal numbered 28848 on December 11, 2013.
Flammable liquids Category 2 - (H225) Acute toxicity - Oral Category 3 - (H301) Acute toxicity - Dermal Category 3 - (H311) Acute toxicity - Inhalation (Vapors) Category 3 - (H331)
Specific target organ toxicity (single exposure) Category 1 - (H370)
Specific Concentration limits (%) STOT SE 1; H370: C ≥ 10 % STOT SE 2; H371: 3 % ≤ C < 10 %
2.2. Label elements Contains Methanol
Signal word Danger
Hazard statements H301 - Toxic if swallowed. H311 - Toxic in contact with skin. H331 - Toxic if inhaled. H370 - Causes damage to organs. H225 - Highly flammable liquid and vapor. Precautionary statements P210 - Keep away from heat, hot surfaces, sparks, open flames and other ignition sources. No smoking. P260 - Do not breathe dust/fume/gas/mist/vapors/spray. P301 + P310 - IF SWALLOWED: Immediately call a POISON CENTER or doctor. P321 - Specific treatment (see supplemental first aid instructions on this label). P370 + P378 - In case of fire: Use dry chemical, CO2, water spray or alcohol-resistant foam to extinguish. P403 + P233 - Store in a well-ventilated place. Keep container tightly closed.
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u/Background-Fly7484 6d ago
Someone decided to eat glass off the floor about 5 years ago when I worked in KY.
Yum!
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u/Future_chicken357 6d ago
Guy was doing Asbestos removal. He had the Tyvek suit but had a bandana over his face, lol. Saw one time, literally 4 guys on 2 ladders trying to install a conduit... i said WTH
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u/Santa_Says_Who_Dis 6d ago
Strangest? I once had a PIT throw a knife switch on a breaker to the off position because they thought you had to turn the power to a PIT charger area off before disconnecting the PIT from the charger.
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u/ValerieInHiding Laboratory 6d ago
Putting their lunch in the biohazard refrigerator. Hearing the reminder during orientation was kinda funny, but finding the lunchbox was even funnier
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u/Frequent-Joker5491 Manufacturing 6d ago
I had a guy walking across the courtyard (on the side walk at least) not watching where he was going while whittling a stick with a pocketknife. I wouldn’t say it was a safety violation but damn man, are you kidding me. I approached him and just said hey man that might not be the greatest idea while walking and I would really prefer you don’t whittle at work that way you won’t cut yourself. He was like yeah I thought it might not be very safe. Common man! I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell someone they can’t whittle at work but I did. I’m not going to my boss and trying to explain that one lol.
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u/GloveBoxTuna 6d ago
Our HR made a policy about not performing reasonably unsafe acts while at work in personal time. I think this counts. I’d definitely say something to one of my employees even without the policy.
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u/Mountain_Trash5480 6d ago
How the fuck is that different than sharpening a pencil with a knife while walking I do it all the time it called umm let’s see… don’t be a fuckin dumbass
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u/RonIsIZe_13 6d ago
You can't stop a high speed fan from spinning by looking at it then putting your finger in it.
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u/Melodic_Abalone_2820 6d ago
On a Frac site, I caught a third party worker walking around with no shirt on. Also caught a female sand truck driver walking on location barefoot.
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u/more_corn 6d ago
The guys that would lift their respirators up off their faces to spit tobacco while in the middle of a big job breaking up concrete
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u/Cactus_Le_Sam 3d ago
Probably people NOT telling medical staff information that is pertinent.
Like, "Oh, I have a genital piercing." Or "I have shrapnel." Or, my favorite."You don't need to know all of that info because you'll steal my identity."
So it's not the med staff it's the patients. That still counts. Like we do in fact need to know that you have a pacemaker because it will probably come out when we stick you in a giant spinning electromagnet that is always running.
I can't tell you the number of times that med stats get called because people refuse to answer that question or "have no medical history" but are on a thousand pills a week and have 6 stents and a pacemaker
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u/daw1998 Manufacturing 6d ago
Forklifts can in fact get some decent air time if you disable the speed regulator and build a ramp out of a loading bay