Safety in First Quarter of 2017: Prevent Human Error
Carl Potter, CSP
Safety Advisor to organizations that want to create a workplace where it is difficult to get hurt
Already we are hearing of serious and fatal injuries due to human error in the first quarter of 2017. This is no big surprise since human error continues to play a major role in events on industrial sites around the world. Anyone can make an error no matter how smart they are (or think they are), experience, or skilled. A human error is an incident that must be managed to minimums if not zero occurrences. Everyone must take responsibility for reducing the number of incidents (personal errors) that lead to an event** on the work site. Here are some ideas that may of my clients use everyday that work:
? Perform a high-quality tailboard safety review to avoid errors
? Clearly identify the consequences of not preventing errors, because nobody wants to get hurt, and nobody wants anybody to get hurt!
? Confirm that everyone understands and is willing to use human performance tools
? Everyone confirm that they are willing to be held accountable for following rules and using human performance tools
? Establish agreement with each person on the site that professionalism and open conversations will be the norm
? Communicate and review the use of STAR: Stop, Think, Act, and Review
? Make sure everyone is clear on the phonetic alphabet and is willing to always use it when communicating
? Ask for commitment to preventing every workplace injury by acting to prevent human errors during that work-cycle***
* An incident is a near-miss, error in judgment, failure to follow safety rule(s), blatant disregard, etc. that could lead to an event.
** An event is when something takes place where the chances are someone could have been injured, seriously injured, or a fatality could have occurred.
***The last one in line will help prevent complacency. Establish work-cycles throughout the day (such as: every 2-hours for breaks).
Thank you for your time and commitment to preventing every workplace injury.
Be Safe!
Carl Potter, CSP
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North America - Environmental, Health & Safety
8 å¹´Good points and well said
Writer/Editor
8 å¹´Or....it's possible that they just made a bad mistake. We are , after all, human. Although, apparently, some have evolved to the point of perfection and don't make mistakes. Before rushing to assign a non -PC term, consider the mitigating causes. When, and if, we reach the point of totally minimal or zero occurrences, there will be many SME 's looking for new jobs.
Safety Advisor to organizations that want to create a workplace where it is difficult to get hurt
8 å¹´Mr. McLaren, sounds like you have already answered your question. To keep open lines of communications we decide not to call people dumba$$, even when it seems that way. Sometimes political correctness can get in the way of facing truths.
Founder/Director/Teacher/Author/Red Seal
8 å¹´Mr. Potter, what defines the term "human error?" Is it the politically correct term used to describe a situation wherein a person that is trained, knowledgeable, and experienced makes a conscientious decision to do something unsafe, and it comes back to haunt them. In the good old days, I believe the more appropriate term for this behavior was, "dumb a$$!" Or, is it a human that made and error because he/she wasn't trained, knowledgeable, or experienced to perform the task assigned to him/her by a supervisor? In this case the supervisor was the dumb a$$, and the human made a legitimate error. I look forward to your explanation.