Time pushback is hard and construction culture is “can do,” not
“need more time.” This is where safety leadership needs to recalibrate
the dial, talk to the project’s other stakeholders to buy more
time and space – when folks feel time is ticking and higher ups
are angry.
Y is for “You” and for “Why”
Obviously here, I have written at a level of overall “safety leadership”
and “big dumb problems,” and not micro-level safety planning.
But the examples, objectives and values are always the same
no matter where on that continuum from “common-sense” to
some broad, Ralph Naderesque study about exploding Ford Pintos
due to poor design of gas tank location. It’s about you.
Today, the words “self-care” or “wellness” are in vogue – maybe
cliché. Yet, at a point, why did his soldiers follow Washington
across the Delaware, or any other general into risk of battle? Trust.
Teamwork. Care from the leader to the troops. The same applies in
sports, at home, at school and in heavy construction.
By “you” I mean each person, their approach and “buy in” and
about installing that safety mindset across the team as the “winning
formula” – just the way former UCLA basketball coach John
Wooden would. His first practice was spent teaching 18-year-old
freshman how to put on their socks before stepping onto the court.
Why? Because that was Wooden’s tried and true “failsafe” item to
prevent inevitable injury. It was about being alert and not distracted
by the excitement of starting practice to forget the little things
needed to succeed.
Or – going way, way back – Vince Lombardi, long before he
coached the Packers, was coaching high school basketball and
before each practice had he kids stand behind the baseline, and
said, “Each one of you who are committed to give it your all today,
step onto the court.” Why? Because project delivery, human safety,
self-worth here are bundled as one and the same thing – crossing
across that baseline onto the project, with a singular goal first in
mind – a safe site, and safe delivery back home.
Conclusion
Ask these questions as part of your quarterly quality control audit:
• Is your safety plan active, engaged and deeply practiced? Is
it a core of project delivery, or a bureaucratic afterthought
of “paperwork?”
• Is your team tired, distracted, ignoring warning signs of the byte?
• Are you leading, or are you tired, distracted, etc.? It’s been an
especially tough, rough year in the COVID-19 bunker.
• Are you working towards making the simple, better?
While “being safe” is an action verb, too often “safety” is treated
as though it’s just a static noun. But that complacency is where
things get unsafe. I have seen it and seen those project sites and
accident reports – not pretty. I usually say to the crew after an
accident, to break the ice, “I’ve been analyzing the accident to
see what went wrong that day, but so far, I cannot find what went
right that day.” Then I eyeball each crew member, and gauge if I hit
on something – corners were cut, either all day, or for a few days
on some improvised “workaround” or risk increase without a rereview
of safety needs in light of the movement from “yellow to
orange to red” levels of risk. Accidents happen in a blink. Yet often
accidents – after they happen – can be seen in 20/20 hindsight, as
QA/QC – SAFETY
representing a tightrope act in a twirling wind with a gaping hole
in the safety net below, with glare from the sun and all the site sunglasses
unavailable, and a rush to get done for the day.
That is, accidents are often rooted due to “red flag issues” for
hours or days of subtle, layer on layer “workarounds” increasing
risks that finally bite. Overlearn the risks and train to counter
them. Careful repetition is often overlearning and reduces risk and
exposes risk increases that can be prevented or stopped before an
accident happens.
I end with this: safety is part of a project’s quality control, and
yet safety is way bigger than that. It is core to the value proposition
of work – “life in our hands,” literally. Make those morning tailgate
sermons sing, and don’t leave it at the pulpit. When you see “fake
safety” creep in – crewmembers acting “safer” when they think
folks are watching – get on it before it’s too late. All the safety plans
in the world are not worth as much as authentic teamwork and
safety culture. That dynamic works, and can achieve safer, faster. t
newvisionstudio/123RF
When you see “fake
safety” creep in –
crewmembers acting
“safer” when they think
folks are watching –
get on it before it’s
too late. All the safety
plans in the world are
not worth as much as
authentic teamwork
and safety culture.
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