I dont know about you but I have never met anyone who intentionally injured themselves. This should go without saying. Unfortunately, employees within BHI Energy are seriously injured each year and many still believe that accidents just happen. But, accidents do not just happen! What goes wrong? Usually, an error that is within the control of one or more people is at the bottom of things. Often, several errors take place, at the same time, for an accident to occur. So when we analyze accidents, we should focus on which aspects of a task were controlled and which were not. Assuming that an employee has been properly trained and all the proper materials and tools are available, what else can go wrong? A lot! Accidents are most frequently due to haste, poor planning and failure to recognize potential hazards. Dont take SAFETY SHORTCUTS. Plan ahead and evaluate your work areas and activities for possible hazards that need to be controlled or mitigated. It is everyones responsibility to work safely, and that means taking time to review what is to be doneand what could go wrong. Everyone should make it a habit to check out their work areas and assure that work can be done without concerns. It helps to remember these five Ps in the future: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance! Lets Get Focused Permission to be Safe I started in commercial nuclear power in the 80s and watched the culture steadily change toward putting safety over production. Back then the schedule trumped everything and there were many unsafe and dangerous activities. Not many people spoke up to correct unsafe activities because their input was not necessarily welcome. Thankfully, things have turned around and workers today are encouraged to do the right thing. As new people join the work force, they enter an environment that expects work to get done safely and on schedule. We all know that Safety is the Number one priority yet are bombarded with subtle pressure to get the work done faster. Site mottos like Every Second Counts, Full steam ahead or pressure to set a site record only add to schedule pressure. Human beings are accommodating creatures who dont like to disrupt the group. When they are thinking about taking action for safety, they weigh the consequences and often focus on how others will react. They need to be reminded that they have both the obligation and permission to question and correct potentially unsafe activities. The only way to reinforce and encourage safe behavior is constant reassurance they are doing the right thing when they choose safety. Thank them for correcting unsafe conditions and encourage a questioning attitude. Im glad the industry puts safety first and give us permission to be safe. Fred Campbell Executive Director of Recruiting BHI Energy Diversity Quote Imagine a world that had forests with only one type of animal, lands with only one type of flower, oceans with only one type of fish. Our world is not like that..the beauty in the world is diversity. The beauty of Bartlett is how we embrace and welcome diversity. Think they started the day knowing this would happen? Humor In Safety A safety officer, a safety manager and a safety director in a large multi national company were walking through a park on their way to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out in a puff of smoke. The Genie says, I usually only grant three wishes, so Ill give each of you just one. Me first! Me first! says the safety officer. I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world. Poof! Hes gone. Me next! Me next! says the safety manager. I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of pina coladas and the love of my life. Poof! Hes gone. Youre next, the Genie says to the safety director. The director says, I want those two back in the office after lunch. Explore your job site for a couple minutes by performing an area walk-down. Look around the area (near the hands-on touch points) and adjacent surroundings to identify conditions such as the following: Industrial safety and environmental hazards Right work area, Right unit and right components Injury and Error precursors Conditions are consistent with the Pre-Job Briefing Every day we make decisions that we hope will make the job faster and more efficient. But do time savers ever risk your own safety or that of other crew members? Taking shortcuts may cause you to overlook a hazard which could cause serious harm to you or a coworker. Evaluate each and every process or work task for time saving opportunities but not at the cost of safety. Time saved in work performance could also create time lost due to injury. In the end, you have saved nothing and at a far greater cost to you or a coworker. Situational Awareness Situational awareness is helped greatly by performing a SAFE conversation during the Pre-Job Briefing. It helps keep an unconscious level of attention (gut feeling) attuned to adverse conditions. Behaviors include: Monitoringregularly scanning task, environment, self and coworkers conditions and behaviors to identify undesirable situations. Interpretinganticipating error-likely situations and flawed defenses and deciding on changes to the work situation and/or contingency actions Interveningexecuting necessary changes in work situations to prevent existence of error-likely situations and flawed defenses Time Pressure If you dont have time to do a job correctly and safely, what makes you think you will have time to do the job again? It takes more time to re-do a job that it takes to do it right and safely the first time. An interesting statistic: 80% of time pressure is self induced. If you are feeling time pressure, ask yourself if it is real or perceived. Take the time to do a job the right way, the safe way, the first time. If you can Predict IT..Then you can Prevent IT!! Lets get started by understanding what it is. The focus for this week is own the four (4) tiers of drive an individuals beliefs, values, perceptions and attitudes. The three lower tiers (emotional, moving, and instinctive) have a tendency to override our values, and contribute to unsafe work practices. Again, recognizing where you are is half the battle. Same for Safety if you cant recognize a hazard, it is hard to avoid it. This takes some introspection, on a daily basis.