do you press your friends about safety?

[vash]

some issues are a no brainer. my car, i'm driving, and you're putting on your seatbelt. easy. at work, we have mandated safety stuff and those are easy to enforce as a supervisor.

where it gets gray-area. mountain bike helmets and life vests. i rode with a guy that didnt want to wear his helmet. i didnt say anything. kayaking, my good friend leaves his lifevest inside of his kayak hatch. he once took his 5 year old son out and the kid had his PFD on. dad? nope. if i had a kid out, i would wear mine for sure so i could save the kid if needed.

i kinda keep quiet now. its weird, and i try not to be all judgey..but. if my friend flips he will be 100% more difficult to help since he wont wear a life jacket. that affects me.

thoughts?

[masraum]

Originally Posted by vash

some issues are a no brainer. my car, i'm driving, and you're putting on your seatbelt. easy. at work, we have mandated safety stuff and those are easy to enforce as a supervisor.

where it gets gray-area. mountain bike helmets and life vests. i rode with a guy that didnt want to wear his helmet. i didnt say anything. kayaking, my good friend leaves his lifevest inside of his kayak hatch. he once took his 5 year old son out and the kid had his PFD on. dad? nope. if i had a kid out, i would wear mine for sure so i could save the kid if needed.

i kinda keep quiet now. its weird, and i try not to be all judgey..but. if my friend flips he will be 100% more difficult to help since he wont wear a life jacket. that affects me.

thoughts?

Yep, your car, you can enforce "wear a seatbelt in my car", and at work, you're the boss, you can enforce safety (so many huge reasons there). Someone else doing their own thing, but you're a witness. You could mention it, but one quick mention is probably as much as you can do. Guy kayaking with his kid, he should be setting an example. Now the first time the kid is out away from dad, he'll want to be cool like dad. But you can't force them to do what you know is right/smart. In a case like that, I think you've got 2 options, shut-up and hope for the best, not hang out with those folks while they do the dangerous stuff. Then hope nothing really bad happens or wait to tell them "told ya so ya maroon" when something non-fatal happens.

[Shifter]

I have no issues on calling out my friends when they do something unsafe. I would rather have them alive/unmaimed and be mad at me. Besides, they will then call me out when I do something stupid.

The life vest? Just ask him if he wants to increase his chances of seeing his son graduate. Keep it up, and either he will wear it, or stop going out with you. Either way, you are removing your liability from the situation.

Of course there are people who will swear the safety equipment causes more danger than help.
"If I wear my seatbelt, I won't be able to reach my parachute if I drive off a 5000 foot cliff!"

[flatbutt]

Your safety when you're on or in my property is my responsibility hence you will be directed to comply. When out and about it's on you.

[Eric Hahl]

Originally Posted by Shifter

I have no issues on calling out my friends when they do something unsafe. I would rather have them alive/unmaimed and be mad at me. Besides, they will then call me out when I do something stupid.

The life vest? Just ask him if he wants to increase his chances of seeing his son graduate. Keep it up, and either he will wear it, or stop going out with you. Either way, you are removing your liability from the situation.

Of course there are people who will swear the safety equipment causes more danger than help.
"If I wear my seatbelt, I won't be able to reach my parachute if I drive off a 5000 foot cliff!"

Umm, how could he possibly be liable? Just asking the question.

[rusnak]

In a word, "No".

[oldE]

I once went sailing with a friend on his boat. I had a life vest on during the trip. He asked me if I could swim.I replied I probably could as long as I hadn't been wacked upside the head by the boom.
Two years later he went into the water while he was on a boat alone. No life jacket. He left behind a widow and a young son.
I was giving a friend and her daughter a ride home one day when I heard the kid's seat belt latch click. I stopped the car and informed my friend 's daughter that it was still a long way to their house and if she didn't feel like walking, she'd better get her belt fastened again.
Yes, I am paranoid, but I will do it my way.
Best
Les

[Scott Douglas]

The one safety thing that bugs the heck out of me is when eye protection should be worn but isn't. My gardener doesn't wear any when using the weed whacker. I see a lot of drilling on those car shows like Road Kill or any of the build shows, where the guys don't wear eye protection when using a drill be it in a press or hand drill.
You're only born with two eyes take care of them.

[Shifter]

Originally Posted by Eric Hahl

Umm, how could he possibly be liable? Just asking the question.

My bad, poorly worded, should have been more along the lines of emotional liability.

I wouldn't want to tell my friend's widow that he didn't make it because of his choice not to use a readily available life vest. Not to mention what it does to you to be in that situation where you can't save someone.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by oldE

I once went sailing with a friend on his boat. I had a life vest on during the trip. He asked me if I could swim.I replied I probably could as long as I hadn't been wacked upside the head by the boom.
Two years later he went into the water while he was on a boat alone. No life jacket. He left behind a widow and a young son.
I was giving a friend and her daughter a ride home one day when I heard the kid's seat belt latch click. I stopped the car and informed my friend 's daughter that it was still a long way to their house and if she didn't feel like walking, she'd better get her belt fastened again.
Yes, I am paranoid, but I will do it my way.
Best
Les

Back in the days when I was dating, it was often divorced ladies with kids I dated. They all seemed to have kids. We were all going to the State Fair and I told her two boys to buckle up. I was driving her car. We had not gone a block before I heard the kids seatbelts unbuckle. I stopped, and turned around and told them buckle up, or we are not going to the fair. We went a block, and both belts were off. I told them again, no seatbelts, no fair. Another block and I heard them off again, so I just drove back to her house. The boys were crying, as I got in my car and went home.

The next day we tried again, and they were buckled up for the entire trip.

Telling an adult that they need to wear a life vest in a boat is a difficult thing. Keep hnting it would make you fell better and you are not ready to go to his funeral.

[Eric Hahl]

Originally Posted by Shifter

My bad, poorly worded, should have been more along the lines of emotional liability.

I wouldn't want to tell my friend's widow that he didn't make it because of his choice not to use a readily available life vest. Not to mention what it does to you to be in that situation where you can't save someone.

Gotcha, thanks.

[id10t]

I'm usually the designated RSO when a few of us meet up at the range.... and yes, I can get emphatic about it.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Your safety when you're on or in my property is my responsibility hence you will be directed to comply. When out and about it's on you.

Pretty much, well, very much how I do it.

I let select people hunt here and shoot here and they all know the rules and abide by them. If not, and there have been exactly two, don't let the screen door hit you on the ass on the way our.

I have the eye pro, hearing, etc. so there are zero excuses. All free.

Anyone new, I have to meet them and spend time watching them.

To use my beaches, only kids under 5 in vests since the water is shallow for150ft from the shoreline as long as the parents are there and attentive. Any surf, jackets for all.

For horses, ride here in the ring and you sign a waiver, no exceptions. We participate in a larger event run by the local stable and he works all waivers.

Pretty simple.

Water is the danger, btw: Fall off your bike and become an issue, not my problem. Water f'ing doesn't care and will kill you and your children in a blink...vests today are so much better:



Just wear it.

[Tobra]

Yes, yes I do.


I am brutal about it too, not above playing the "your kids will be orphans" card

[Bill Douglas]

No.

We are all quite sensible boys who have grown up around risk (powertools, motorbikes, home renovation, pub brawling, driving too fast) so we tend to be naturally safe in the things we do these days.

[David]

I work in a machine shop where safety is non-negotiable. Unless you're my boss apparently! We require tight fitting safety glasses. On a number of occasions I've offered to buy my boss a pair of "not on the approved list" prescription safety glasses (meaning expensive) if he'll just wear the darn things instead of his street glasses. Drives me nuts.

I was pleased to see my son mowing the lawn for the first time wearing safety glasses without being told apparently because he always saw me wearing them.

[matthewb0051]

The PFD thing is interesting. I watch Lone Star Law and the other one in Louisiana, both on Animal Planet. It seems so counter intuitive that kids under a certain age have to wear a PFD by law but over that age and it can be in a well on the boat.

I think about every episode when the old lady and I are watching I say, 'WTF good will it do you in that well"?.

I've seen all kinds of things after a couple of decades in the Army. Got involved in investigations at a certain career point. Unfortunately a bunch of those were death investigations. Gotta say, just a little common sense and thought could have prevented a lot of those deaths. One in particular, a non-swimmer freaking out in the water... a swimmer tried to help and the swimmer was drowned by the non-swimmer.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by matthewb0051

'WTF good will it do you in that (well)"?.

I say that every time I see someone on a motorcycle hustling down the road with the helmet clipped securely to the helmet lock and his hair wafting in the breeze....

[masraum]

Originally Posted by matthewb0051

One in particular, a non-swimmer freaking out in the water... a swimmer tried to help and the swimmer was drowned by the non-swimmer.

I understand that's actually fairly common if you don't know what you're doing and aren't prepared for it (as the person trying to help).

[matthewb0051]

Originally Posted by masraum

I understand that's actually fairly common if you don't know what you're doing and aren't prepared for it (as the person trying to help).

It was actually a group of 4. One of them went under and drowned. In turned it freaked out this person and she started going under. A bystander pulled her to a kayak but the guy that tried to help in the water her drowned. It could have been much worse.

This was in Hawaii. Army leaders thought that if you went to the drown proofing class where you turn your cammo pants into a PFD then you would not have any problems.

Problem with that line of thought was no one took their cammo pants when they went to the beach. It was board shorts or bikinis.