Safety Training

"Safety Training" is the nineteenth episode of the third season of The Office. It was written by B.J. Novak and directed by Harold Ramis. It first aired on April 12, 2007.

Synopsis

Andy returns to the office after several weeks in anger management training, determined to make a fresh start with all the Dunder Mifflin employees. Meanwhile, it's safety training day in the office, and Michael and Dwight are on a mission to illuminate the true dangers of the workplace.

Upon his return, Andy requests that the rest of the office refer to him as Drew. Dwight decides to shun Andy for three years. Michael takes the staff of the upper office into the warehouse to hear Darryl's presentation on warehouse safety. Darryl repeatedly reinforces that Michael is not allowed to operate the heavy machinery in the warehouse, and Michael only irritates the warehouse staff more by constantly interrupting Darryl, at which point, Lonny insults Michael in front of everyone. In a talking head interview, Darryl reveals that he is on crutches because Michael pulled a ladder out from under him as a joke. The office and warehouse staff then head upstairs, where Toby reads office safety tips from a book as Michael frequently interrupts and insults him. Bored with the presentation and of Michael, the warehouse staff depart, and Michael and Darryl exchange words, with Darryl calling Michael's life and job completely safe like "Nerf."

Meanwhile, the entire office staff begins betting on various things, a trend started by Kevin, who is bored since March Madness has ended and he has nothing to bet on. On one bet, Jim, Kevin, Karen and Oscar bet on how many jelly beans are in Pam's candy dish. Kevin loses to Jim and calls this unfair, since Jim has had "hours" of standing at Pam's desk. A look of discomfort spreads across Karen's face when she hears this. Other bets include guessing how long Kelly can talk about Netflix (Ryan wins), how many times she says awesome (twelve times, Pam wins), how many romantic comedies she mentions (six times, Jim wins). The final bet is whether Creed will notice if someone switches his apple with a potato. Karen loses every bet and gets cleaned out.

Offended by Darryl's comments, Michael decides to show them that working in an office is dangerous because the stress of office life can lead to depression and suicide. Michael plans to demonstrate the dangers of depression by jumping off the roof and secretly landing on a trampoline. However, when he and Dwight test the trampoline with a watermelon, the watermelon bounces off, landing on someone's car, so they replace the trampoline with a bouncy castle. Dwight calls the office and warehouse staff to the parking lot, where they see Michael standing on the roof, talking about the dangers of depression. Initially, they do not take Michael seriously, but then they find the bouncy castle and realize that Michael is actually planning to jump, which will probably injure him badly. Darryl talks Michael out of his fake "suicide attempt", by convincing him that he is braver than Darryl.

At the end of the day, Stanley is shocked when he sees his car covered in watermelon from Michael's test.

Deleted scenes

After seeing An Inconvient Truth "almost twice", Andy trades in his Nissan X-Terra for a Toyota Prius
Office workers insult the cookies Andy made.
Andy tries to remain calm when Kevin takes the last of the coffee.
Angela keys Andy's new car.
Michael summons the office staff to safety training.
Kelly tells Ryan he would "look so hot" if he worked out, which he responds to by saying "Yeah, we should both work out." Kelly says to Ryan, "Screw you!"
Extension of Michael and Dwight in the hallway discussing how they should respond.
In a talking head interview, Michael shows how safety training can be funny by talking like Borat, however his impression of Borat is a poor one.
Dwight helps Michael calculate his trajectory from the roof onto the trampoline.
Karen loses a bet to Stanley over how often Bob Vance calls Phyllis.
Several members of the office staff take turns trying to talk Michael down from the roof. Kevin, who is still hoping to collect on his 10,000-1 wager that Michael would jump, says this shows you should always take such a gamble because you never know what's going to happen.
Michael explains how upper middle management is more dangerous than working in a coal mine.
Andy sees his keyed car.

Trivia

References or similarities to previous episodes:
- When Pam apologizes for calling Andy "Andy," rather than his newly preferred nickname, "Drew," he tells her that the apology is not accepted, because it was not necessary. In "The Negotiation", Dwight tells Jim that his gratitude is not accepted because it is similarly not necessary.
Rainn Wilson came up with the "shun/unshun" hand gesture.^[1]

In the background

On Creed's desk (visible when he eats the potato) is a binder labeled Academy of Tobacco Studies, which is the fictitious tobacco lobby group in the movie Thank You for Smoking which was directed by Jason Reitman, the son of Harold Ramis' frequent collaberator, Ivan Reitman. Jason Reitman (director of Thank You For Smoking and Juno) would later direct the season four episode "Local Ad".

Cast

Main Cast

Supporting Cast

Recurring Cast

↑ "Safety Training" DVD commentary

[1] "Safety Training" DVD commentary

[1]