Job safety: Preventing falls isn’t monkey business

Re: “How dancing on Cheney Stadium’s roof could cost the Rainiers nearly $60,000,” (TNT, 1/2).

Overseeing workplace safety and health is important, but it isn’t always fun. Certainly, it’s nothing like dancing on the roof of Cheney Stadium in a gorilla costume.

L&I employees respond regularly to work sites where people are seriously injured or die. Often fatalities and injuries happen when workers do something unsafe, even though they’ve done it that way many times before.

Matt Driscoll missed the mark with his column about L&I fining the Tacoma Rainiers and The News Tribune for serious violations during a rooftop dance.

Just because dancing in a costume within a few feet of the roof’s edge “went off without a hitch” doesn’t mean it’s safe.

Last year 19 workers in Washington died from falls and thousands of others were injured. Safety harnesses, railings and other requirements truly can make the difference between life and death.

L&I’s actions in this case are rooted in a daily commitment to help ensure every worker goes home healthy and whole at the end of each shift.

I hope the message Washingtonians take away is that workplace safety is serious, not because it spoils the fun, but because it prevents injuries and deaths.