As I write, a number of events surrounding the wearing—or not wearing—of masks and social distancing, particularly at large indoor events, have dominated the news. Some occurred at nationally recognized landmarks but many occurred in various communities across the U.S. What these events had in common was that they resulted in many people becoming infected with the coronavirus, and they were termed “super spreader” events. Without getting into a political debate about masks—but to be clear, I wear them myself in line with CDC guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19—I am interested in the various workplaces identified in media reports. Of particular interest to me were reports that employees who wanted to wear masks in some of these workplaces were discouraged or outright forbidden from doing so, putting their health and the health of others at risk. Of course, I don’t know the particulars of any given workplace situation but photos of some of these events made clear that wearing masks and social distancing were the exception and far from the rule.

Reading about these events, my thoughts were with the employees working in these places. Those who wanted to wear masks but also wanted to keep their jobs were forced to choose between a safety precaution and a culture that downplayed that safety risk. And then there were likely those employees who may have misunderstood the safety risks because they weren’t required to take precautions. These scenarios are all too familiar in my experience in aviation, where protection of employees from the risk of injuries is not always taken as seriously as it should be, including by the employees themselves. A safety culture that focuses on preventing employee injuries has always been important in aviation, although sometimes given more lip service than actual practice. Unfortunately, some companies over the years have seemed to support safety practices in theory but not so much when it means taking a delay.