Tips for Incorporating Job-Site Safety Practices

Safety is not a thing that exists the way your DMM exists. Nobody manufactures it, and you can’t buy it anywhere. Safety exists only as a result of what goes on in your mind and the minds of your coworkers. But safety is not necessarily out of your control the way the weather is. What you think will determine to what extent you control the level of safety.

The thoughts you have (or don’t have) while preparing to do the job determine whether you will be prepared to be safe while executing the job — almost.

Safety is not only a mental game, but it’s also a team sport. So,  the thoughts your coworkers have or don’t have while preparing or doing the job also factor into whether you will be safe and vice versa.

At one time, safety was seen as a game between workers and their supervisors. The job of the workers was to see what they could get by with, and the job of the supervisors was to catch them in the act. Safety was imposed from the outside, as it was often seen as getting in the way of getting work done.

When companies came out with safety programs that stressed thinking about what you are doing (e.g., DuPont’s STOP program), they noticed an odd thing happening. Lost time accidents went down, fatalities went down, and productivity actually went up. Why did productivity go up, instead of down? One reason is people became more thoughtful and methodical about the job and thus made fewer mistakes.

European safety standards switched from the old “catch me if you can” mentality to the “how do I protect myself?” mentality. United States safety standards eventually followed. This approach is the foundation of NFPA 70E.

How can you win this mental game and team sport? Here are some tips:

• Be fully there. Few of us can have laser focus all day long, so when you feel your mind wander, take a short break and then refocus. The break can be anything from reading the next steps in the procedure to getting a drink of water. Don’t let it include conversation that is not work-related, as that just sets you up for distraction.
• Don’t let others be unfocused. If a coworker seems distracted, let him know he seems distracted. This should be enough to get him refocused. If not, stop work ,and take a short mind-clearing break, such as a walk to the tool crib and back.
• After the job briefing, see if you can recall the three most important points made. Ask your coworker(s) the same. Did anybody miss anything important? If so, why?
• Before opening any covers or doors, mentally walk through what you are going to do. Pantomime with your hands, if that helps (think “air screwdriver”). This should take only a minute or two. The point of this exercise is to “load” the work steps into your mind. This exercise crowds out the mental space that might otherwise be used to juggle distracting thoughts. Many top athletes use this technique, so it should work for you too.
• Ask your coworkers to walk you through what they are going to do and then reciprocate. Doing this instead of (for example) talking about an upcoming auto race or ballgame is a good way to keep distraction from even getting started.
• Purposefully look at every item in your field of view, asking, “What are the potential dangers here?” Then ask your coworkers what you as a team can do to protect yourselves. For example, there’s a switchgear cover missing half of its screws. That equipment no longer has the protection rating it was intended to have. Should you obtain screws to replace the missing ones? Should you look at what other safety violations might be lurking?
• Be alert for unsafe conditions while working. Maybe you notice the insulation on some feeder conductors has melted back. What does this tell you about working in that cabinet? Do you have a safe work condition when something like that is going on? What about other signs of equipment condition problems?
• Work in distinct segments. Average attention spans have been decreasing over the past couple of decades. In electrical work, this effect is not as pronounced, because electrical work requires concentration and by paying attention you increase your ability to pay attention. But you would still be smart to account for this. By breaking work into distinct segments (for example, bursts ranging from 15 to 30 minutes), you can maintain a high degree of focus the whole time you are performing work.
• Get distracting people to leave. A bane of maintenance electricians is operators sometimes want to talk to them while they are in the middle of troubleshooting an equipment problem. Some maintenance supervisors also feel compelled to do this. You can’t carry a conversation and safely focus on your work at the same time. Let the person know you would enjoy talking with them, but it’s either do that or work safely. If they don’t get the hint, ask them to go get you some yellow or red tape so you can rope off the area.
• Don’t rush. One way to lose the mental game is to allow yourself to feel rushed. Tell yourself the work will take as long as the work will take and trying to go faster will only make it take longer. If a supervisor pushes you about the time factor, tell the supervisor this. It will take longer because you will make mistakes, and possibly one of those will be a fatal error. The adage “haste makes waste” is spot on, don’t let it be dead on.