"Safety Meeting" origins & history

**Woodsy** · 05-17-2004, 01:19 PM

so while I was on my river trip I noticed that a friend had a hat indicating he was a member of a certain bike shop's "safety team" now once the older set had gone away I asked him if their safety meetings were much like Solitude safety meetings ( he worked here a while back) he smiled & said "of course"

I commented I never knew this term to exist outside the ski/board community. the kayaker accompanying the raft said it was widespread in all outdoor endeavours & was coined back after the Glen Canyon Dam was built & the were doing controlled releases.

they offered pamplets that said
"BE SAFE, CAMP HIGH"

seemed reasonable to me, until I was out to dinner a few nights later with the owner of said bike shop to whom I recounted the story. He said the "safety meeting" had been around construction sites since the 50s & working safe was the norm on many sites.

he even commented that he got the safety team idea from a construction worker's hoodie.

so I know we have quite a strong safe community here, any more thoughts on the origin? where did you first hear it?

I actually was first exposed in the early days of powmag, although I had been holding regular meetings @ alta since the late 80's

**Buster Highmen** · 05-17-2004, 01:24 PM

Rafting the Sauk, circa 1996, was the first time I'd heard it.

**tuffy109** · 05-17-2004, 01:28 PM

had never heard it til last year.

**PlayHarder** · 05-17-2004, 01:29 PM

I've been hearing it around oilpatch and construction sites as long as I've understood it.

**Pinner** · 05-17-2004, 01:31 PM

First heard it on a college trip in the 80's. It became part of my daily lexicon working kitchens in ski country in the early 90's.

**Jumper Bones** · 05-17-2004, 01:42 PM

When I worked at the Y/C, we had "safety meetings", but since there's random drug testing there, they were actual safety meetings. You could see the strain on the guys' faces, you could tell they wanted to go back...

**homerjay** · 05-17-2004, 01:59 PM

I first started using the term right around the time I started ducking into those huts at Mary Jane with my buddy from work, and seeing it here a few years ago reinforced it.

Sometimes for my work I have to oversee construction projects and we have a daily safety meeting. I can't help but smile every time I fill out the paperwork.

13 · 05-17-2004, 02:07 PM

Overheard my uncles discussing safety meetings while chopping firewood at family christmas gatherings when I was younger.

**MacDaddy** · 05-17-2004, 02:10 PM

Crested Butte 1992 while riding the T bar.....I guess, I really cant remember that much from the CBMR /WSC days

**truth** · 05-17-2004, 02:11 PM

Yer all full of shit. I invented in back in 62. They were dangerous times my friends. Had to be done.

**CaddyDaddy77** · 05-17-2004, 02:13 PM

Heard it first on hill with some patrollers as a kid, and also in the construction trade when I was probably 16.
"we'll be right back, quick safety meeting, you keep scrapin' out"

**powslut** · 05-17-2004, 02:13 PM

Originally posted by Woodsy
so while I was on my river trip I noticed that a friend had a hat indicating he was a member of a certain bike shop's "safety team" now once the older set had gone away I asked him if their safety meetings were much like Solitude safety meetings ( he worked here a while back) he smiled & said "of course"

I commented I never knew this term to exist outside the ski/board community. the kayaker accompanying the raft said it was widespread in all outdoor endeavours & was coined back after the Glen Canyon Dam was built & the were doing controlled releases.

they offered pamplets that said
"BE SAFE, CAMP HIGH"

seemed reasonable to me, until I was out to dinner a few nights later with the owner of said bike shop to whom I recounted the story. He said the "safety meeting" had been around construction sites since the 50s & working safe was the norm on many sites.

he even commented that he got the safety team idea from a construction worker's hoodie.

so I know we have quite a strong safe community here, any more thoughts on the origin? where did you first hear it?

I actually was first exposed in the early days of powmag, although I had been holding regular meetings @ alta since the late 80's

was that you that drunken dialled me the other night?

**Woodsy** · 05-17-2004, 02:17 PM

Originally posted by powslut
was that you that drunken dialled me the other night?

waztahio JGo FLamesshhh?!?

shouldn'tyou be in the Philipines?

**powslut** · 05-17-2004, 02:19 PM

Originally posted by Woodsy
waztahio JGo FLamesshhh?!?

shouldn'tyou be in the Philipines?

that was some funny shit.

I got delayed due to some incompetance on the part of the travel agent, leaving at noon tommorow.

**Woodsy** · 05-17-2004, 02:23 PM

Originally posted by powslut
that was some funny shit.

I got delayed due to some incompetance on the part of the travel agent, leaving at noon tommorow.

saw that,
finally told the GF about the jailtime in Banff

**powslut** · 05-17-2004, 02:25 PM

Originally posted by Woodsy
saw that,
finally told the GF about the jailtime in Banff

how'd she react? does she think you're tough because you did some hard time? thinking about that night still cracks me up.

**Woodsy** · 05-17-2004, 03:00 PM

ha she was cool about it,
not to suprised, I have been known to pass out in strange places before.

proll best place I could spend my innaugaral night in the tank

def better than slc

**Pinner** · 05-17-2004, 03:04 PM

Okay now, gentlemen.

Spill it.

**DJSapp** · 05-17-2004, 03:30 PM

Back on track. Origins of the safety meeting can be traced back through construction to the ancient times. In Egypt when they were building the pyramids, slave supervisors had regular meetings with slave bosses and foremen to insure they were using proper wrist technique while whipping slaves so they would avoid any lost time accidents from arm and wrist strain.

In all seriousness, safety became an issue once construction began factoring in the cost of worker's lives as a monetary sum in the cost of a project, or if an excesseve amount of deaths delays the project. My best guess would be safety "meetings" proably began around the time of the railroads, but coal and gold mines might be even earlyer than that.

13 · 05-17-2004, 04:00 PM

Originally posted by Pinner
Okay now, gentlemen.

Spill it.

What he said.

JR · 05-17-2004, 04:01 PM

"Safety Meeting" Nobody moves, nobody gets hurt.

**Woodsy** · 05-17-2004, 04:53 PM

DJ:
\Eu"phe*mism\, n. [Gr. ? fr. ? to use word of a good
omen; ? well + ? to speak: cf. F. euph['e]misme. See {Fame}.]
(Rhet.)
A figure in which a harsh or indelicate word or expression is
softened; a way of describing an offensive thing by an
inoffensive expression; a mild name for something
disagreeable.
also see code words

Pin & 13.

While I was in the great white north for buis: I had compressed 2 days of meetings & appointments ito one so I could sneak away & ski lake Louise for a day. after this long day I decided to retire to one of the many Banff watering holes to watch some hockey & get a bite. Well watching Hockey in a Canadian resort town where the locals are from all over Canada is a very very good time.
Habs beat the Bs shooters around, oh your a yank that likes hockey buy him a drink, your for the flames, have 3 drinks,
Avs fan?! I used to live in quebec get him a beer. I of course must reciprocate etc etc.

so after 3 full games of drinking & a bit to eat, I am a touch hammered. I am enticed away from the Rose & Crown by Msr Pslut who is now off work & wanting to get some drinks.

here is where it all goes wrong. (powslut may need to provide details from here on out) leaving all my new friends at the bar I stagger over to meet powslut. we decide on a local friendly place that is caddy corner from my hotel (this will become important.) this place serves good tequilla & I have aquired a pack of players cuts somewhere. so I am smoking & drinking & eating peanuts & throwing shells on the floor & having a good time trying to get to know the people at the bar & carry on an intelligent conversation with a man who reminds me of a greek Canadian Rev floater. I of course have to tell him this 8 to 10 times.
we proceed to get in his words "mutated" & at some point I pay & tumble out into the street.

this last part was recounted to me by the RCMP: I pass out in the lobby of a hotel (mine, the one nextdoor, across the street? who knows) I am awoken by the staff who want me to move on, I cannot tell them where I am staying so I get hauled of to ye olde Banff drunk tank. ( handcuffs fukkin hurt) square cement room 1 window & combination sink/toilet/drinking fountain. I pass right out. I come to disoriented in stocking feet with no idea what time it is. all the screws will tell me is it will be a while till I get out.
I pace, I nap, I sing "folsom Prison Blues" repeatedly. I stretch, repeat.

so finally the door opens, policeman (unmounted) takes me down to the window I get my envelope
"ALright, eh
passport
wallet $80 canadian, $5 american
shoes,
cell phone
smokes"

"ya must a really goneafter it last night( recounts story above)
Have a good day , eh."

shove out the door & into bright light check of the cell phone says 230 & I have no idea where I am.

luckily the construction crane in the center of town next to CMH gives me reference as I embarrassedly shuffle back to my hotel.

cant believe I blew my day of skiing..

Powslut was the only one that knew till now cuz too many of y'all know my gf & I only told her last week.

so I blew off the eddy seminars on thursday for a day at the lake

**powslut** · 05-17-2004, 05:01 PM

Originally posted by Woodsy

(powslut may need to provide details from here on out)

all i remember is close to a dozen shots of tequila and jager in a very short period of time. that and the little slut that was sitting next to you thinking we were two of the creepiest people ever. playing the creep card rules, brought her home, but she turned out to be a bit of a psycho.

**Woodsy** · 05-17-2004, 05:06 PM

Originally posted by powslut
all i remember is close to a dozen shots of tequila and jager in a very short period of time. that and the little slut that was sitting next to you thinking we were two of the creepiest people ever. playing the creep card rules, brought her home, but she turned out to be a bit of a psycho.

see total floater move!

safe travel senor

**CaddyDaddy77** · 05-17-2004, 05:16 PM

So happy others have visited "the grey-walled hotel" instead of the white room.

Sometimes you go in search for the white room only to find yourself deep in the confines of the grey-walled hotel, alone, confused, spinning, and fairly ashamed. The cops in Vail are pretty good guys, BTW.