Safety procedures only work when bosses actually enforce them.

So when a cautious worker noticed a damaged strap and reported it, one manager brushed it off while another insisted he use it anyway.

Moments later, it became clear the people in charge had no idea what they were talking about.

Keep reading for the full story.

Use the damaged strap, you got it boss

A fellow coworker worked for a Japanese company. They had lots of health and safety procedures and lots of managers.

Said worker had to use straps to lift a counterweight onto the assembly line.

This factory had a particular system for this.

Now these were color-coded, and every month they were all swapped out for inspection. This being the first of the month, we moved on to a new color (orange for convenience).

But one employee noticed something unusual, so they reported it.

Now the worker took a new strap and noticed damage to the stitching, informed his manager, and was told to use last month’s straps for the time being.

One of these managers didn’t seem concerned at all by this potential safety issue.

Now the thing about these kinds of companies is there’s usually a couple of managers, so now a second manager came over and told him he should be using orange.

He told the manager about that damaged strap but was told to do as he is told.

So the employee decided to comply, but then disaster struck.

So all swapped over to orange. Did as he was told.

He lifted the weight to a few inches off the ground, told everyone to step back and wait.

Less than a minute later, that strap gave way.

Then they launched a full-on investigation.

But now, since it’s an accident on the line, investigations had to be made — interviews, witnesses.

All in, we had 4 hours of downtime and a manager that was suspiciously never seen again.

This employee had every right to be cautious here.

What did Reddit think?

It’s a good thing one of these employees had enough common sense.

Safety should be everyone’s number one priority.

A competent manager would have handled this situation a lot differently.

This commenter can’t help but shudder at how badly this could have ended up.

Just “do as your told” isn’t a valid managerial style — especially when safety is on the line.

The strap failed, and so did the boss’ judgment.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.