The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions
Thanks to my father, there’s a resounding thought that often crosses my mind. It drives me crazy at times, but I have to remember why it resonates so deeply—and why it has stuck with me all these years.
Whenever I hear those infamous words, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” I pause and reflect on their meaning.
My father would often use this phrase when he hoped for a better outcome from me. I heard it frequently, and in hindsight, I realize now that he was raising me to a higher standard than the one, I may have set for myself.
That phrase still crosses my mind—especially when I catch myself procrastinating, thinking of taking shortcuts, or rushing to complete something. Being human, this happens more often than I’d like to admit.
You might be wondering: what does this have to do with safety—and why am I telling you this?
I believe that most business owners genuinely intend to operate safely and provide a secure environment for their employees. But life in the business world is anything but simple. Challenges arise constantly: costs increase, skilled workers are difficult to find (or they move on), clients lower rates, and the list goes on.
So, even with goals in place, safety professionals hired, and programs implemented—life happens. Business owners find themselves working from sunrise to well past sunset. Workers complain that safety is too much work, and to keep them, we begin to compromise. We relax expectations. We lose our safety personnel and convince ourselves we can manage without them—after all, it saves money.
This cycle continues… until we get a wake-up call.
If we’re lucky, it’s a near-miss, or maybe just barely scraping through our COR audit. But for others, it’s more serious—an incident, an injury, or something worse that makes us stop and ask, “How did this happen?”
We had goals. We had good intentions. We worked hard. This shouldn’t have happened.
But somewhere along the way, we lost focus. We let our standards slip to keep the work flowing. Now, the cost of neglecting safety could mean losing contracts. Our TRIF is high. WCB premiums are rising. We’re facing penalties and fines for failing to follow safety protocols.
And this is when my father’s words echo in my mind once again: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
So, let me ask you: What are your goals?
Maybe now is the time to pause, reflect, and re-evaluate your original intentions. Because good intentions aren’t enough without consistent, deliberate action.