A few years ago I saw a group of guys with jackets that all had a patch that said, “Safety Third”.
I thought it was hilarious. I’ve heard the phrase “Safety First” since I can remember and this seemed hilariously contrarian.
I asked them about the patch and we chatted about it for a while.
At one point I thought to ask what the first two things were.
They froze. Nobody had asked them that before. They didn’t actually have an answer.
Suddenly one of the guys got a very serious look on this face as he thought and thought. Soon an “ah ha!” look on his face appeared and he said, “I got it!”
“One… get the job done.”
“Two… have fun.'
His friends then cheered, “Safety third!”
Even though they made it up on the spot, I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that. In many situations, the highest priority is to get the job done. If you don’t get it done, what’s the point? Secondly, we have to have fun. Or… at least it can’t be un-fun. Too much stress and we’re we’re going to burn out. Safety third? Yeah, I can see that!
