The Phrase “Safety Is Everyone’s Responsibility” Origin
The exact origin of the phrase "safety is everyone's responsibility" is quite hazy. While it is commonly used in safety culture discussions today in the U.S., it appears to have been popularized in the late 1970s in Canada.
The most frequently cited source is the 1976 Ham Report in Ontario, Canada. This report stemmed from a Canadian royal commission on worker health and safety in the canadian mines. After the Ham Report’s release to the public, the phrase grew in popularity in Canada through the rest of the 20th century.
The phrase gained some traction in the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, likely due to its increasing popularity in Canada and the growing influence of OSHA on worker safety.
Also, the focus on shared safety responsibility aligned with the growth of the safety culture movements in the U.S. during that time frame.
While we can't pinpoint a single person or company that started to use the phrase in the United States, it is safe to say the phrase emerged from a collective effort in safety advocacy and workplace practices who occasionslly used "safety is everyone's responsibility” in some their safety language and writings.
However, we can pinpoint the starting point at which its rapid increase in use in the United states began.
In mid 2006, a company called SafetyBanners.Org released a red and black safety banner called “Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility”. Within one year from its release over 100 copies had been sold to industrial, manufacturing and construction sites across in the U.S. and even to the U.S. Military in located in the United States and stationed in foreign countries abroad.
As the company SafetyBanners.Org grew in popularity and influence, so did its safety banner “Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility” and the use of that same phrase in U.S. industrial and manufacturing workplaces.
Today, that red and black “Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility” safety banner is the most popular safety banner design ever created and sold in the United States. It is also available in a Spanish Language version supporting the enhanced safety of Americn Latino workers.
It has become so popular that every major U.S. company that offers industrial safety banners has copied the design with some ever so slight changes to avoid a copyright infringement law suite from SafetyBanners.Org.
Today, SafetyBanners.Org is the largest designer and producer of industrial safety banners in the United States, partly due to the popularity of one safety banner design released in 2006 – That red and black “Safety is Everyone’s Responsibility” industrial safety banner.
May your future be safe, bright and happy.
Your friends at SafetyBanners.Org
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