If you love The Office as much as we do, you might remember the scene where Michael Scott demonstrates CPR. It turns into a sing-along mess, but one Arizona man recently credited the scene with helping him save a woman’s life! While the scene clearly seems to show what you shouldn’t do during CPR emergency, they do sing “Stayin’ Alive” while performing chest compressions, which is the proper tempo for chest compressions. The popular tv show has several other examples of safety lessons, or more or less what you should not do in the office during a medical emergency. Let’s break them down.
Do you remember the season 2 Olympics episode? While throwing an office Olympics is a fun idea, make sure it’s a safe one. Remove hot cups of coffee from any events, which is where the games began in The Office. Eliminate any fire and tripping hazards too, and you’ll safely engage employees and encourage teamwork.
It’s hard to forget the iconic fire safety lesson of season 5. While Dwight has good intentions by avoiding a boring Powerpoint presentation that no one will remember, starting a fire in the office was a terrible idea. Everyone panics, and it becomes immediately clear that no one knows what to do likely because they’ve not received enough ongoing training. Make sure your staff is well-trained when it comes to emergency fire situations. Know the proper procedure, which is most certainly not throwing a cat in the ceiling and yelling “Save Bandit!” or raiding the snack machine.
In season 2, Michael Scott operates a forklift he isn’t trained to operate and he ends up knocking over office supplies, and in season 6, a printer catches fire. This acts as a great reminder that employees shouldn’t operate equipment they aren’t authorized to use. It can easily do more damage than good. Equipment should always be in good working order (and that means the person operating it should be trained and in a healthy state to be operating it). If you notice any equipment malfunctioning (like a printer), report it so it can be fixed before it gets worse.
In season 3, we actually see a great example of safety in the workplace. Though Toby Flenderson’s speech might be a bit boring, he does address office safety best practices. Of course, that involves avoiding accidents with preventative measures, but it also requires ensuring a comfortable work environment (think: proper lighting, comfortable chairs, a work-conducive set-up, and so on).
If you haven’t learned at least a little from this blog, we suggested bingeing the entire series of The Office!
