Sharp Sticks?

A past co-worker of mine, Bruce Kaihoi, had a saying he frequently used. When greeted with minor bad news he would say it was “better than a sharp stick in the eye.” Although he was always correct when saying this unique remark it was a bit awkward to hear.

I always think of Bruce’s phrase when the subject of eye protection comes up.

Let me give you some history on eye protection at Willmar Electric.

Before we went to the policy of mandatory eye protection we had a lot of eye injuries. The safety experts told us that we should start requiring eye protection and in certain situation co-workers did wear safety glasses.

When I started working at Willmar Electric full time in 1991 wearing safety glasses wasn’t required and I don’t remember the exact date was when my dad changed the policy. However I do remember the events around the decision.

Then on a project that we were on somebody poked their eye out. They were using their screwdriver to pry something out and the screwdriver slipped and the tip went into his eye. (I bet you could read that without closing your eye!)

So we changed our policy. It is sad that somebody had to lose an eye first.

Now when we “look” back we see that this simple move has prevented dozens of eye injuries. (Based on the pre-policy injury rate).

Is wearing glass cool? I leave that to you to decide for yourself.

Is it comfortable to wear safety glasses? Not really but you get used to it.

The bottom line is that it is better than a sharp stick in the eye.