Real-Life Communication
You're a safety supervisor working for your local municipality.
Today, you're doing routine inspections of city buildings.
You're having
a look around in a building when you notice a big stack of boxes in front
of an exit doorway -- a clear violation of the safety code.
You bring
this to the attention of the maintenance manager and he says, "Yeah, big deal,
I'll get to it later."
For safety professionals like you, blocked doorways
are a big deal, and you have government legislation to back it up. You tell
the maintenance manager this is a serious matter and he could be reported
to the police if he doesn't clear those boxes away.
"Yeah, says who?"
replies the manager.
You have your book of state regulations with you
and you show him this section, which reads:
"An owner of
a public building shall not permit an exit to be locked or obstructed in any
manner that denies the public a continuous and unobstructed means of egress
while lawfully occupied by anyone who is not an officer or an employee.
"An
owner of a public building commits a Class D felony if:
"(1) he knowingly
or intentionally violates section 2 of this chapter; and
"(2) bodily
injury or a loss of life occurs to a person lawfully in the public building
as a result of a fire in the building."
The manager says,
"OK, but what does that mean in English?"
Take the information from
your book of regulations and present it to the maintenance manager in plain
language.
Want to learn more? Check out this URL:
Legal
Information Institute
Internet:http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/workplace_safety.html