Tool Box Talk: Step-up Stop -Think – Evaluate

Step-up Stop -Think- Evaluate  – Proceed

In the past, many companies focused on staying safe by complying with the rules and learning ways to avoid being hurt or hurting someone else. Rather than always thinking of how to work safely. The new paradigm shift requires us to think about how to do a job safely and to stop, think, evaluate, plan and act especially when a job condition changes. What’s the difference?

Learning the new technique means that you stop and think BEFORE you act in an unsafe manner. You predict the success or failure of your actions BEFORE you take them. How you think as a safe worker is outlined and shared with coworkers. You and your coworkers not only act in a safe manner, you think in one as well.

It’s like driving a car. The first time you do it, you have to think about every action you take. You get in and go down a mental checklist — buckle safety belt, check mirrors, start ignition, look in each direction, put car in gear, ease into gas pedal, hands on wheel at 10 and 2, eyes on road, start moving. A more experienced driver does all of these same things, but he or she doesn’t have to deliberately think of each one. It’s a natural process.

We want safety to be the way you think, not just something you think about.

Take this case in point; an employee is driving through the plant transporting work material to a site in one of the operating areas. He encounters a blocked roadway. He is also aware that another route to the area cannot be used due to the presence of liquor on the pad in the operating area. He spontaneously divert to what is perceived to be an alternative route. He drives the vehicle beneath one vessel and manoeuvres through safely. He drives across the pad to another vessel in another train and attempts to drive beneath. He passes safely through an “entrance” point then attempts to go through another side below the vessel. The left side of the vehicle contacts the wall and he tries to get out of the sticky situation. The result is that the vehicle is dented and scraped.

What went wrong?

• The employee did not stop to think and evaluate all options carefully.
• He did not communicate with his supervisor that he encountered difficulty and needed assistance.
• He assumed it was safe to drive beneath the vessel.
• He assumed that both vessels had identical dimensions and he was wrong.
• He had never driven the same path before and he operated the vehicle in an area for which it was not designated.

The solution is; always stop and think when things change. Don’t act spontaneously; take a moment to assess the risks that you will encounter when deviating from standard operating procedures. Approach every task with safety in mind!

The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. (Chinese Proverb)

Thanks for the share, TO!