Mike Rowe, the well-known dirty job do-er, work raconteur and mover of the book markets, did a safety video that has application to shooters.
In the video, below, Rowe describes how he and his crew had attended beaucoup safety briefings during his work on the television show “Dirty Jobs.” He made the point that safety briefings weren’t really for the attendees. The safety briefings were actually for the employees and for protection of the businesses, who could point to the safety briefings as liability protection in case of an accident.
He noted in the video that despite sitting in dozens of the safety briefings across a range of work environments, his staff began suffering more accidents. He noticed the trend and thought about why these incidents had begun piling up. His answer: complacency.
He closes with the notion that safety is always an individual thing, and not a group thing. When people who are absorbed in an activity believe they are “safe” because of the presence of so-called safety staff (range safety officers), the participants can become complacent and begin making mistakes that lead to accidents.
This, of course, can be ruinous at a gun range.
It’s a message he also drove home a few years ago for an audience at SHOT Show. The thrust of the lesson he learned: when safety becomes someone else’s priority, it becomes less so for you. And that’s a recipe for trouble.
Rowe explains that safety is always and must be an individual responsibility, That’s where his video ties into shooting safety. Or, as he says, “I believe that my safety is my responsibility. I understand that being in ‘compliance’ doesn’t necessarily mean I’m out of danger.”
It’s great advice for shooters, too.
