ONLY FOOLS REPEAT THEIR FOLLIES

I’ve spent the last couple of days smarting at my own idiocy. In one of those slow-motion moments of absolute clarity I realised, too late, that I’d pushed my front door closed - with the keys on the inside. There followed a farcical morning, worthy of my former Whitehall life, spent trying to track down someone to get me back in to my house.

And, before you ask: yes, I do have access to a spare set; no, the key wouldn’t turn while the other was in the lock on the other side.

Bear in mind, too, that I was standing outside in my indoor clothes. No mac or muffler. Not a mask or money or mobile phone to my name. No ID. No Covid vaccine certificate. Nowhere I go could go. However, after a few humiliating hours when I was forced to laugh at my own folly with a succession of my small saviours – my neighbour and my friend from the café - I was back in from the cold after I’d tracked down someone who opened the door in no more than an embarrassing couple of minutes.

I don’t just feel a fool. I am a fool. It doesn’t matter that nearly everyone I’ve told has a similar tale to tell. Failing, quite literally, to open even the first door on the Advent calendar was hardly the best start to the month of December I’ve ever had.

But it did get me thinking about accident reporting - and the lessons we can learn when things go wrong. I am very much someone who thinks nothing teaches you better than lessons you learn after the event. But I deal in words and budgets. Clearly, no one will lose their lives if I get the sums wrong or make an idiot of myself in print – and I have. But there are some industries and situations where that’s just not acceptable. You’d not want to be wheeled into an operating theatre if the surgeon was working by trial and error. Similarly, the built environment must have a low tolerance to mistakes when lives depend on the outcome.

I am all too aware you cannot legislate for stupidity but, if this week’s comedy of the keys tells me anything, it’s that we only get better when we own up to our errors. I know it can be easier to look the other way when things are uncomfortable or scary. But we all need to face the music sometime. That is why I have always admired the attitude of the aerospace industry where a blame-free culture means people are more open about their failing in the interests of overall safety improvements. That’s not to say there is no culpability where necessary but it does mean the same failings can be prevented from happening again and again.

I believe one of the key points of a membership association - like the Association for Project Safety - is to help people learn and develop their skills without having to take unnecessary risks themselves. This helps create a safe space where members can share their experiences and successes as well as their undoubted knowledge.

I work for the APS in part to play a small part in making sure construction workers go home in one piece and end users can live and work in relative safety. I hope we help with our CPD events and webinars. Our next webinar series will start in the New Year and will be looking at equality, diversity and inclusion. You are also due a new edition of your membership magazine in the coming days.

And I promised you more about meeting the President, Jonathan Moulam. Jonathan and I will be online on Thursday 6 January 2022 and, to kick off the new series, I’d like you to send in your questions to me at: [email protected] . During the session Jonathan will set out his ambitions and priorities for 2022 and then we will open the floor to you. I’ll feed in the questions we get in advance and, if anything gets too technical or outside Jonathan’s specific area of expertise, we will get back to everyone with answers.

I look forward to hearing from you. Please take some time to send in your questions. We’ll do our best to answer anything you raise. Remember, APS is your association and we are determined the door will always be open to you all – if not for me.

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All APS events are at: https//www.aps.org.uk/events . You can catch up on any you have missed at: https//www.aps.org.uk/past-events .