It is not good business to injure your customer. Accidents are preventable. Every reasonable effort must be made to provide a safe environment for people invited into a retail establishment; otherwise, the result may be an injured person who could seek justice through litigation.

The desire to be safe is universal, but the knowledge necessary to ensure safety must be learned. Because nine out of ten injurious events that occur in the workplace or in public spaces can be predicted, my contention is that what can be predicted can also be prevented by following certain guidelines.

Many retailers declare that their employees are their greatest asset, but I contend that it is their customers who are most important for profitability. The 1980s saw world manufacturers struggle to become “world class” in quality, and the recognition that the customer should be where everything begins was at the heart of that struggle. It is time that retailers around the world realize that their focus should return to their customers and especially to their customers’ safety.

From my many years of experience in hands-on manufacturing, consulting, teaching at the university level, research in safety and ergonomics, owning a retail establishment, and serving as an expert witness in numerous cases involving personal-safety issues, I recently authored a book.  I discovered that a serious and active safety and ergonomics program pays in savings from employee lost time, workers’ compensation, and other indirect and direct costs of accidents, and through productivity gains in the order of 20 to 25 percent in many situations. If safety programs are properly conducted, they will prevent injuries to both customers and employees. My desire is that there will be a continual effort to reduce the number of painful, costly, and sometimes fatal accidents to our fellow humans.  Human safety should always be included in any and every decision concerning design, construction, manufacturing, engineering, legal, political, and other aspects of our daily lives.

After saying all this, however, I do feel that in numerous lawsuits, many companies “talk the talk” and do not “walk the walk” when it comes to both employee and customer safety. Many times I found employees and their managers either did not know their own company’s safety rules, policies, and regulations or did not put them into practice. It is my opinion that this failure to follow well-known and generally accepted safety principles and practices is the result of pressure from management to ensure profitability by cutting corners. I believe that the sacrifice of personal safety for profitability is a false economy and that this opinion will be proved accurate in the future. My belief that customer injury prevention through reasonable and affordable efforts is the answer for every retail organization is illustrated beautifully in the following parable.

The Parable of the Dangerous Cliff

By

Joseph Malins (1895)

Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,

Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant;

But over its terrible edge there had slipped

A duke, and full many a peasant.

The people said something would have to be done

But their projects did not at all tally.

Some said, “Put a fence around the edge of the cliff,”

Some, “An ambulance down in the valley.”

The lament of the crowd was profound and was loud,

As their hearts overflowed with their pity;

But the cry, of the ambulance carried the day

As it spread through the neighboring city.

A collection was made, to accumulate aid,

And the dwellers in highway and alley,

Gave dollars or cents, – not to furnish a fence-

But “An ambulance down in the valley.”

“For the cliff is all right if you’re careful,” they said,

“And if folks ever slip and are dropping,

It isn’t the slipping that hurts them so much

As the shock down below when they’re stopping.”

So for years (we have heard), as these mishaps

Occurred, quick forth would the rescuers sally,

To pick up the victims who fell from the cliff,

With the ambulance down in the valley.

Said one, in his plea. “It’s a marvel to me

That you’d give so much greater attention

To repairing results than to curing the cause;

You had much better aim at prevention.

For the mischief of course, should be stopped at its

Source, come, neighbors and friends, let us rally.

It is far better sense to rely on a fence

Than an ambulance down in the valley.”

“He is wrong in his head,” the majority said;

“He would end all our earnest endeavor,

He’s a man who would shirk this responsible work,

But we will support it forever.

Aren’t we picking up all, just as fast as they fall,

And giving them care liberally?

A superfluous fence is of no consequence,

If the ambulance works in the valley.”

The story looks queer as we’ve written it here,

But things often occur that are stranger,

More humane, we assert, than to succor the hurt,

Is the plan of removing the danger.

The very best plan is to safeguard the man,

And attend to the thing rationally;

To build up the fence and try to dispense

With the ambulance down in the valley.

Blog question no. 1:

Do you believe that the practice of sacrificing of personal safety for profitability is a false economy?