Timothy Ludwig, Ph.D. for Industrial Safety and Hygiene News (ISHN)

“It’s just my bad luck to have a dad that’s a safety geek” my son exclaimed. “I don’t do ‘vert’ where kids fly up in the air and try to land back on the ramp. I do ‘ground boarding’ like when I make the board jump and flip then try to land on it”

“And I always wear my helmet”.

My son was right. He did always wear his helmet skateboarding (he had been wearing his helmet snow skiing since he was 3) while many of the kids at the skate park don’twear the protective gear. The issue between my oldest son and his safety-consultant dad had to do with wearing elbow and knee pads.

His grandmother had lovingly gotten him these pads from Goodwill, but he said he stopped wearing them because they were too small and “looked stupid”.  So I bought him brand new ones from the coolest skate store in our county. I thought, “Problem solved”.

So you can imagine how I felt when I drove up the driveway and saw him doing hisboarding with no pads. Thus, we had one of those early adolescent talks between fathers and sons wherethe son is the purely rational one and dad just gets his way because he is bigger.“

So son, I’ve seen you with the scrapes and bruises. You’ll be able to avoid those and more serious injuries if you wear the pads. So why are you not wearing them?”

“Dad,” my son said with some impatience as if I was missing the obvious.

“They are uncomfortable and sweaty. And they make me less safe.”

“Less safe? “ I said with astonishment. “Let me cite some safety statistics that blah,blah, blah… (insert Charley Brown teacher sounds here).”

“But you’ve seen the tricks I do where I use my legs like arms to flip the board. Those leg pads keep me from bending my knee well enough and then get in my way.When that happens I’m more likely to get hit by the board, fall and get hurt.”

In my psychologist’s mind I knew he was right. Consider the concept of the basic Response Cost & Benefits Ratio. Simply stated, the personal cost my son experienced for complying with my request to wear pads (from his perspective)was:

a) discomfort, b) inhibit performance, c) inconvenience to put on, and d)looking silly (with the bulging knees and elbows that was not the fashion for pre-teens). In contrast, what was the benefit for wearing pads: a) Dad’s approval.

Thus,the Cost/Benefit Ratio shows a greater cost for safety. When the costs outweigh the benefits, the safety-related behavior does not happen.

Principle 1: Safety-related behavior is often less convenient, less comfortable, and provides less dexterity than the more risky alternative.

But, what could possibly be more important than Dad’s approval?

After a little investigation of his skateboard world I found out. Skateboarding magazines contain the ultra-cool boarding professionals photographed in impossible aerial poses, all with rock-star hair, the hottest gear, and… no pads (rarely helmets). I saw these same pros showing up on popular shows such as MTV’s Jackass careening down handrails to thrash-rock music then slamming their body on pavement as others laughed into the microphone. Surely, this wasn’t influencing my son. But, when I took him to the new county park’s skate park, build by a responsible community-minded group trying to find safe alternative activities for teens, I saw other kids had the tricks, the styles, even the laughter of the pros…all with the absence of pads and helmets.

Principle 2: We are influenced by others, especially if they are considered “cool.”

Consider the experienced employee who everyone goes to for advice or the neweremployee whose production numbers are praised by supervisors. Their approachto safety is modeled by others. What messages do they communicate about safety? What behaviors are they doing to promote safety? So I did what any dad would do. With all the male bravado I could muster I declareda “threat”.

“You WILL wear your pads when skateboarding or you will…. never…….skateboard……….. again (echo here).” And he complied, or so I thought. The next week I drove up the driveway to my son taking his pads off after boarding. It was an illusion squashed when his younger brother tattled that he had just spent the afternoon boarding without pads. When he saw my car he ran to his pads, shoved them on, and then acted as if they had been on the whole time.

Principle 3: Threats and discipline are only effective when the disciplinarian is present.

Ask any supervisor or safety manager and you’ll hear countless stories ofemployees scurrying to correct their safety behaviors when they see the supervisor walking up. I’ve even talked to some employee groups who had secret whistles and tapping codes to let each other know that “trouble is coming”. Who of us hasn’t been driving when oncoming traffic flash their headlights to indicate a police trooper is ahead taking speed gun readings? My threats did not work so I upped the ante. I proceeded to contact the county parks director and county commissioners announcing myself as a safety professional and detailing what I had seen at the skate park – how unsafe behaviorswere being modeled, and how there were no policies or signs requiring helmet and pad use in the skate park. I was not the only one.

Soon thereafter the county commissioners passed a law that all patrons of the skatepark must wear helmets and pads. Up went the verbose sign with the new statute. Nothing changed.

Principle 4: Policies and signs only direct behavior, they do not motivate safebehavior.

They cannot without consequences (see Principle 3 to review what happens to consequence without oversight). Is the only solution is to have a consequence provider watching at all times? That’s what happened. The county hired a security guard to enforce the new safety policy. It was then when my son, whose father is an opinionated local safety professional, wrote this letter to the editor of our local paper:

Some people are misguided on the issue of protective gear. I have nothing against helmets because I’ve banged my head a few times with it on and it still hurts and I know people who have become seriously injured because theywere not wearing one. Though I have nothing against helmets, I disagree with skateboarding pads because they affect your looks and most importantlyperformance. Mainly skateboarding pads are used for a style of skating called vert, half pipe mini pipe and ramps, but it has been proven that pads can decrease your performance and lead to further injury in other more technical, non-ramp styles of skateboarding most of the skaters at the skate park perform. Myself and the majority of skateboarders I know are refusing to come to the skate park because of these requirements.Yet our town is spending $40,000 for a security guard to enforce the rules.We would be better to use that money to expand the park which would allow skaters to be more spread out decreasing the chance of injury. I believe this action by the county was not economic but rather a decision based on the stereotype that skaters are a bunch of hooligans and require a security guard. Iknow the skate park will lose the majority of it’s frequent skaters who will look to the streets once again as their place to skate, defeating the original purpose of the gift of the local skate park.

He was right: The park closed from lack of attendance that same year.

I was right: He fell ground boarding, hurt his elbow and kept him on the DL during his baseball season. I took the issue to higher authorities, he resisted even more. We should have worked together. I guess we were both wrong.

Tim is a senior consultant for Safety Performance Solutions and teaches Psychology atAppalachian State University. Tim’s son Christian is a Junior at Watauga High School and future King of the World.