"Safety Training" is the 20th episode of the third season of The Office and the 48th overall. It was written by B.J. Novak and directed by Harold Ramis. It first aired on April 12, 2007. It was viewed by 7.7 million people.

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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, Lonnie 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 spent "hours" 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 by tossing a watermelon, the watermelon bounces off, landing on Stanley'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 Inconvenient Truth "nearly twice"(reffering to running out of gas), Andy trades in his Nissan X-Terra for a Toyota Prius

"nearly twice"(reffering to running out of gas), 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.

Andy talks about his new Prius while Angela keys the entire car in the parking lot.

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 - in a talking head, Stanley says that, while his co-workers had always annoyed him, he never realized he could make money off their behavior, and encourages Vance to call Phyllis any time he wants.

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, adding that, should John Mellencamp ever win an Oscar, his personal finances will take a significant turn for the better.

ever win an Oscar, his personal finances will take a significant turn for the better. Michael explains how upper-middle management is more dangerous than working in a coal mine.

Andy sees his keyed car.

References to previous episodes

Michael claims that safety training day is going to be "zoppity." In the previous episode ("The Negotiation") Darryl teaches Michael a "black man phrase" that is "pippity poppity give me the zoppity."

When the watermelon hits the car, Michael thinks it might be Stanley's. He tells Dwight to "Call the office of James P. Albini, and see if he specializes in hate crimes." This is the lawyer he hired in the episode "Sexual Harassment."

Even though Darryl says that they've never gotten through a full year without an accident, in "Boys and Girls," it is shown that the warehouse hasn't had an accident in more than 936 days before Michael's shenanigans with the forklift.

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.

Trivia

According to the DVD commentary, Greg Daniels thought of the scene where Jim and Pam try to talk Michael down from the roof as if Jim and Pam were a divorced couple, speaking in code to their child (Michael) which makes the new wife (Karen) feel "left out".

Rainn Wilson came up with the "unshun/reshun" hand gesture.

Kelly mentions the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually , a film in which the UK Office star Martin Freeman is featured in.

, a film in which the UK star Martin Freeman is featured in. Michael's quote, "Dwight, you ignorant slut!" is a reference to the 1978 SNL skit "Point/Counterpoint" where Dan Akroyd calls Jane Curtin the same name.

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 collaborator, Ivan Reitman. Jason Reitman (director of Thank You For Smoking and Juno ) would later direct the season four episode "Local Ad".

, which is the fictitious tobacco lobby group in the movie which was directed by Jason Reitman, the son of Harold Ramis' frequent collaborator, Ivan Reitman. Jason Reitman (director of and ) would later direct the season four episode "Local Ad". The binders on the shelf by Andy's desk have silly labels: Cheap Stuff from China, Cheaper Crud from Korea, Competition Sabatoge, etc. One of the binders also says Property of MCA on the bottom of it. MCA, Inc.'s non-music assets were acquired by NBC Universal in the early 2000s.

Cultural references

Cast

Main Cast

Supporting Cast

Recurring Cast



