Re: Safety training?
I think this is one of those ?You?re welcome to come in, but leave your lawsuit at the door? kinds of statements. If someone is hurt, and if someone else starts asking how it happened, the NFPA can say, ?We told you that you should get safety training. And since it now appears that you didn?t get enough safety training, we conclude that you were not qualified to do the job. You can?t blame us if you did work for which you were not qualified.? I'm not criticizing the NFPA. I think it is a sensible way for the NFPA to protect their own interests, while expressing a valid caution to its readers about the hazards of the profession.
To me, it resembles something I recall from my Navy days: the ?Rules of the Nautical Road.? The actions that two vessels might be required to take as they approach one another are, in fact, not required, if the two vessels will not approach close enough for there to be a ?risk of collision.? But if two vessels do collide, it becomes hard to make the case that they were never close enough to create a risk of collision. By analogy, if someone does get hurt, it becomes hard to make the case that the person had received the safety training needed to prevent the injury.
Am I getting cynical in my old age?