Little things matter a lot

Letter from Lesley - Friday 6 March 2020

If you been into the offices of the Association for Project Safety [APS] this week you couldn’t have avoided the smell of bleach. If you had stood still long enough we’d probably have cleaned you too. Now, you may think we are over-reacting, but - with all the talk of Covid19 - we decided we would do our bit to eliminate any risks and have a bit of a clean. Instead of the guys in the hazmat suits, the staff had set to with sprays and disinfectant to make sure all our surfaces were squeaky clean. It’s no exaggeration when I say the kitchen sink hasn’t sparkled so much since the day it was first installed.

But, coronavirus aside it was a salutary lesson. We thought we kept our workplace shipshape and Bristol fashion but we could have been better.

It’s not that people don’t know what to do. But it turns out that, with office cleaning as in all things, it is the little everyday things that get the better of you - the ticks and habits you don’t even notice and the situations to which you are so habituated you don’t see any more. It’s not for nothing that more road accidents happen when you are in striking distance of home. Or, on site, where a momentary lapse with tasks you do day in, day out often leads to serious accidents. 

We all need to be a bit more aware of the world around us and to take care with the everyday.

And that gets us back to the current worries over Coronavirus. At APS we have been underlining the importance for proper hand washing and are reminding people that covering up a cough is much better than spluttering germs all over the place.

We all know it – but its doesn’t hurt to take a moment to be mindful of the little things we can all do to protect each other.