It seems we, as a profession, struggle to get a consensus on those three words/phrase. For me, it is crystal clear, but for many others I find they wish to have some “room to work” in how they understand these terms to be used. I am often told I read the OSHA (i.e. barebones MINIMUM requirements) too literal and that I should be more flexible and help management work to keep employees safe. The fact that it is insulting to hear those words, but to hear them from the “safety person” is just-downright sad.
OSHA standards are just sad, even for merely establishing a floor of minimum safety standards… most are over 40 years old and have little relevance in today’s workplace. Thus why our profession should have surpassed their use years/decades ago. We should be so far above the “bottom of the barrel” at this stage of industrial safety; yet we find ourselves, our profession, failing to be able to agree on three simple words/phrase. Let’s look at how OSHA has used these words in their standards and maybe, just maybe I can win one or two of you over, to the “literal” side of safety…