6 Hilarious Workplace Safety Videos Every EHS Professional Will Love & Cherish
Thursday January 19th 2023
minutes
These days, it’s no secret that environment, health, and safety (EHS), and sustainability professionals wear many hats within an organization. From ensuring EHS compliance (in a not-so-assured world) and risk management to employee training and streamlining operations to preparing EHS audit checklists — you have a big job to do. But, of course, your primary responsibility — and passion for that matter — is ensuring the health and safety of each and every employee. This primary responsibility has been even more top of mind as EHS leaders have taken on the role of navigating the pandemic response and return to physical workspaces.
If you didn't have enough on your plate already, you’re always on the hunt for new tips, tricks, and tactics to enhance EHS and swiftly handle issues that crop up. After all, you take your job as the purveyor of health and safety very seriously. However, from time to time, you may need a good laugh to reinvigorate your EHS management efforts and restore your faith in the fact that you know what you’re doing. And that’s where we come in...
For your viewing pleasure, we’ve compiled several hilarious, delightfully obnoxious, and strange workplace safety videos that will make you laugh, cry, and roll your eyes. (After all, everyone has their own “chainsaw-wielding-Ricky” that doesn’t take health and safety seriously.)
[NOTE: There is some slightly graphic material throughout some of these videos. So, as you would tell your employees, please proceed with caution.]
Enjoy!
1. Keeping the Grim Reaper Out of Business
This gem out of Australia is the perfect representation of the ever-present EHS risks you’re battling on a daily basis. The beauty here is that this workplace safety video touches on both the general environmental risks any workplace faces, as well as how disengaged employees are the ones who bring those risks to life — or death if you want to embrace the Grim Reaper theme.
DuPont has been a recognized and respected brand for more than two centuries. But don’t let their long history fool you into thinking that they can’t have a little fun. In this video, our safety guides with amazing 1970s-era mustaches, Ron and Lamar, address a common workplace hazard — working with electrical components — and all the no-nos that come along with it. The big takeaway? Don’t let electrical safety risks cramp your style.
3. Lack of Sleep = Death
Let’s face it. We all know being sleepy at work is no good — from reduced productivity to making silly safety mistakes to possible meltdowns at the coffee station. But this video takes the dangers of sleepy workers to the next level with a hefty mix of all-over-the-place animations and graphics, as well as a dose of “lack of sleep equals death” messaging.
4. Retro Risk at the Office
For those tasked with managing EHS in lower-risk environments such as offices or data centers, very different health and safety risks exist. While there may not be any boiling vats of dangerous chemicals, lower-risk environments face unique risks — not no risks.
This retro workplace safety video produced in the 1950s — along with thinly-veiled assumptions about women in the workplace — touches on some of those unique risks in chain-reaction fashion. (Also, good thing this video was just a preview, and not meant for actual use.)
5. "Don't be a Pirate" - Safety Awareness - Slips, trips, falls
It’s no secret that slips, trips, and falls are some of the most common safety incidents in the workplace. In fact, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that most falls across industries actually happen on the same level — not from heights, overexertion, or falling objects.
While slips, trips, and falls are no laughing matter when they really happen in one of your facilities, we can all agree that watching people stumble can be funny. Thanks to this video from Heerema Fabrication Group, we get a humerous reminder to be safe on the job and stay aware to avoid getting hurt.
6. Shaking Hands with Danger
The year 1980 didn’t just give us the Miracle on Ice, the long-anticipated release of “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” or the revival of the “preppy” look. It also gave us “Shake Hands With Danger” — Caterpillar’s short-film featuring re-enactments of numerous accident scenarios and the theme song of the same name.
Perhaps our favorite part in regards to this “cautionary tale” is that it’s listed on IMDb, complete with a compelling summary — which we just had to share:
A cautionary training film for those who operate and repair heavy equipment. We watch vignettes of men taking shortcuts in their work, doing things they aren’t trained for, neglecting to warn a less experienced worker, using the wrong tool or a tool that’s in disrepair, ignoring proper safety practices, trying to appear macho in front of fellow workers, thinking their reflexes are quicker than they are, working while distracted, and generally putting themselves and others at risk. The film is punctuated by the song, “Shakes Hands with Danger,” the story of Three-Finger Joe.
We know you're busy -- the full film is a whopping 23 minutes long -- and in the spirit of taking shortcuts in the workplace, we are providing you with a condensed version (an unmoving still of the title track with the story of "Three Finger Joe" playing in the background).
Looking for More EHS Fun?
Just so you know, we didn’t forget about “Klaus the Forklift Driver” — who seems to be a favorite among EHS professionals and the internet-at-large. But given all the blood spatter, we had to draw the not-safe-for-work line somewhere — pun absolutely intended on that.
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