on the safe side

Idioms  

1. Avoiding danger, with a margin for error, as in Just to be on the safe side, let's order another hundred chairs. This idiom was first recorded in 1811.

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Example Sentences

Lowering the safety bar is mandatory at many European ski resorts but for years has been optional in the U.S., leading to occasionally awkward interactions between freedom-loving devotees of self-determination, who chafe at every perceived incursion by the nanny state, and people who would prefer to err on the safe side.

From Los Angeles Times

Just to be on the safe side, I said, “When will you see this old man again?”

From Literature

Matthew Martin of Oxford Economics added that business would likely "reduce their overall hiring to be on the safe side," until they see data pointing to rising demand or a stabilization in the economy.

From Barron's

"Businesses would therefore reduce their overall hiring to be on the safe side of things, until they see data that really points towards increased demand, or at least stabilization in the economy," he told AFP.

From Barron's

“I’m seeing scores of people that I had relationships with a generation ago coming back just to be on the safe side,” says Michael Wildes, an immigration lawyer and managing partner at law firm Wildes and Weinberg.

From Slate