Safety Practices at Work Must Become Second Nature

(This article appeared in the May/June 2026 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine)

Safety is all around us. We may not even notice the safety-related things we do every single day, many of which we do without even thinking about them. I know that each time I get in my car, I instinctively buckle my seat belt. When I go to work in my yard, it is second nature for me to put on hearing and eye protection. In the kitchen, I do simple things like turning the pot and pan handles so they cannot be easily grabbed or get caught on my clothing. These are just second nature—but they are also safety practices.

No one else is going to do these things for me. No one at my home will force me to do these things. In comparison, this is how we must approach safety when we go to work at the post office each day. The contract says a safe work environment is management’s responsibility. But when do you see them take that responsibility seriously on the workroom floor? I will tell you what my experience has shown: management takes its responsibility seriously when a person has already been injured.

Early in my postal career, just a few days out of probation, I was moving a fully loaded cage of letters. I was pulling that cage to the dock, and management was rushing me to get it there so the dispatch would not be late. While trying to make a sharp turn, I crashed the cage into the wall and crushed my hand. After the accident, I was investigated for not working safely because I was not pushing the cage. This was the first time in my new job as a mail processor that I was told, “push, don’t pull.” My point is, management had not cared for months that I was not doing the work safely. They could have stopped me and told me how to push a cage anytime, but because pulling was faster, they did not care until the reportable accident showed up in their stats. But once I learned that pushing was the correct way to move the cages, even though it slowed me down, I pushed the cages. And if management ever said anything about my pace, I would remind them this was the safe way I was instructed to perform the task, and they couldn’t do a thing about it.

This is what we must do when we go to work. We must work to rule, no matter how much slower management may think it is. Article 34 of our contract states, “The principle of a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay is recognized by all parties to this Agreement.” It does not say you have to be the fastest, and it does not say to ignore safety rules to get the mail out. What this means is you do your job to the best of your ability and in the safest way possible.

This must become second nature, just like putting on your seat belt. Things you hear every day should become muscle-memory actions. Things like lock-out/ tag-out, checking your area for trip hazards, removing broken equipment from service and “red” tagging it, and using proper lifting techniques. And take the appropriate breaks to rest your bodies—yes, breaks are part of taking care of your safety. More injuries occur across all industries when employees are fatigued. Safety must become one of the first things you think about when you go to work. I guarantee management will not make safety their first priority, at least not until you get hurt and they try to scapegoat their lack of safety enforcement onto you.

Talk is Cheap: Safety Matters! Solidarity! ■