Why is it important to put safety first?

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In our country’s legal framework for work safety, almost all principles emphasize \"safety first,\" yet there are varying understandings of what this means. Some time ago, I went to a large company for a visit and learning experience*, where I saw the slogan \"Safety first, quality first.\" After looking it up online, I found other slogans such as \"Safety first, quality first, efficiency first, reputation first,\" etc. I wondered then: since everything is considered to be of primary importance, what exactly is safety’s rank? In a WeChat group, safety production experts and training instructors also engaged in lively and interesting debates on the principle of \"safety first,\" each holding their own views and refusing to yield. “\"Production must be safe; it should not be carried out if it is not safe.\" \"Safety comes first – safety is of utmost importance.\" In urgent situations, many new ideas and statements have emerged, such as: \"Without production, there is no safety; in fact, production comes first,\" \"Production is the father, while safety is the son; without the father, where can the son come from?\" ”“Production is the priority; safety serves production,” “Production is the skin while safety is the hair – without the skin, the hair has nothing to attach to.” Opinions vary, and no one was able to convince the other side in the debates, leaving everything unresolved in the end. However, sparking this debate inspired everyone to reflect on the role of safety in the production and operation process. The authoritative explanation is that in production and business activities, when dealing with the relationship between ensuring safety and achieving other objectives of such activities, safety – particularly the safety of employees and other people – must always be given top priority, adhering to the principle of \"safety first\". While ensuring safety, efforts should be made to achieve other objectives of production and operation. When there are conflicts or contradictions between safety measures and other production and operational activities, those other activities must give way to safety; it is absolutely unacceptable to pursue development and efficiency at the cost of human lives, health, or property losses. In reality, safety is not truly number one. Some business owners prefer money over the lives of their employees; illegal and unlawful operations are widespread in high-risk industries. **Although there appears to be strict supervision, in reality there is a lack of effective enforcement. A look at the accident statistics over the years shows that the number of minor accidents is huge, serious and catastrophic accidents occur frequently, and occupational hazards are severe. Although the situation regarding safety in production has improved, it remains serious. Putting safety first is merely a **prescription for treating the illness of insecurity in production. The prescription for the problem of unsafe production is the same as the prescriptions given by sages throughout history and around the world to society. Why does Confucianism emphasize benevolence and filial piety in governing the state? Why do Westerners talk about freedom and fraternity? Why do Indians talk about equality? There is logic to each. Why does the philosophy of Confucius and Mencius always emphasize benevolence? Not only did Confucius talk about benevolence, but Laozi and Zhuangzi did as well. It is because there are too many people in our nation who lack benevolence and filial piety, that they spoke of benevolence and filial duty. In Western culture, the reason why emphasis is placed on ** and freedom is that in those days, ** was too powerful; that’s why ** and freedom are emphasized. Jesus cried out loudly for \"brotherly love\", because he was the Son of God, and since God loves people, he created them ； Because God loves humanity, He sent His only Son, Jesus, to be incarnated on earth in order to redeem humanity’s sins. \"Fraternity\" stems from a lack of love; look at Western culture over the past two thousand years – which era has truly shown fraternity toward all of humanity? If in a society, **the freedom is excessive, way too much – do you think they would still talk about freedom?** He didn’t need **freedom at that time. To use another analogy, the Buddha spoke of \"equality,\" but in India over the course of thousands of years, there has been a huge disparity between classes, and inequality persists to this day. Today, the four social classes are very distinct; people of different castes and classes can absolutely not sit together. Thus, the solution proposed by Shakyamuni was equality, equality among castes. It can be seen that sages are all doctors; what they advocate and prescribe are remedies for curing diseases. So, why should putting safety first be adopted as the principle for safe production? It’s because in reality, safety isn’t number one; this disease is too serious and needs to be treated! Sunday, September 18, 2016