Addressing Distraction Problems on Electrical Job Sites

Suppose you find a 500-lb rock in your living room (never mind how it got there). That rock could be there a while because you’re just not strong enough to pick it up and move it. But if you find 20 rocks that each weigh 25 lb, you can easily move them one at a time.

You can apply this same concept to an electrical and/or construction job site. You can’t focus for every second of the workday — but you do have the ability to focus for the brief time it takes you to make a voltage check during lockout/tagout. You can focus on this step in the PM procedure or that step in the repair procedure. You can focus during the short time it takes to perform a tool count. If you mentally hit the “focus switch” just before doing something for a brief period, you aren’t distracted while doing it.

This strategy is based on breaking down a big, seemingly impossible task into smaller, manageable ones that you can easily accomplish. You might not be able to fend off distraction for an hour at a time, but you can fend it off for a few important minutes at a time.

Muscling up

Each of us has a limited amount of “focus power,” just as each of us has a limited amount of physical strength. And just as we can increase our physical strength by strength training, we can increase our ability to focus by deliberately challenging our “focus muscles.”

Experts in this area advise building concentration through activities such as doing crossword puzzles. They aren’t wrong, but if they could work with the NEC, they would forget about crossword puzzles.

No matter how much effort is put into revising the Code, it will never be simple to understand or apply because the application of electricity is inherently complicated. Not only is the material dense enough to require focus, but it is also technical enough that you must recall facts and theory from memory as you read. It’s perfect for exercising your focus muscles.

You could start with 5-minute sessions, gradually working your way up to 30 minutes. Or you could pick any Article in the NEC and read one Part at a time with the intention of fully grasping it (noting that Art. 90 and Art. 100 have no Parts because they have no requirements).

Some other focus builders:

• Deliberately relax. If you try to lift weights all day, you will be weak and sore rather than strong. Focus is that way, too. Once you use up your reserve of focus, you need to rest until recharged. On the job, it could mean switching to another task, handling a previous distraction, or going for a short walk.
• Ratchet up. Determine how much time it usually takes before your thoughts wander. You can gauge this in terms of minutes passed, connections made, paragraphs read, sticks of raceway used, or whatever. The next time you do that activity, try to exceed that value by one unit. Keep doing this, and your focus will be far stronger a year from now.
• If your life situation permits, take up a sport or hobby. Nearly all sports and hobbies require concentration, and you can build your focus muscles without job pressure getting in the way.
• Take a defensive driving course. Defensive driving requires concentration. If you drive this way, you naturally become more focused in other areas. If you don’t have time to take such a course right now, get a driving discount app from your insurer. It will monitor things like unfocused trips (being on the phone while driving) and hard braking. If you can make the trip to work count as a focused trip, you are off to a good start for the day.

Anti-distraction

In addition to building up your ability to focus, work on reducing the number, frequency, and magnitude of distractions. One common distraction is the compulsion to answer the phone. Whether text or voice, tell yourself it’s probably a telemarketer and ignore it. Don’t answer it just because it rings, dings, or vibrates. Unless impractical, leave the phone in your truck or at the shop. Electricians who are approaching retirement today did not have cell phones when coming up through the trade, so yes, you certainly can do electrical work without that phone nearby to distract you.

Some other tips:

• Remove potential distractions. Your phone isn’t the only potential distraction. Others include the chatty customer, the bored operator, the disorganized tool kit, and the background noise in your location. Address each distraction so that it no longer distracts you — or at least address the worst ones.
• Compartmentalize. You may be excited about that football game or NASCAR race, but now is not the time to think about it. This takes discipline, but the more you do it, the easier it is.
• Take notes. This old-school method is one you will likely keep doing if you try it. Keep a pocket spiral notebook handy (e.g., in your shirt pocket) and when something potentially distracting comes up, jot down a quick note about it. This shifts the issue from your mind to that notebook. Regularly check your notebook between tasks, so that those distracting issues get tended to.
• Refuse chit chat. If a coworker wants to complain about the traffic on the way in, rant about something political, or gossip, that’s fine for your coworker. But he needs to take it somewhere else. It’s distracting, and it can get you killed. What if your supervisor is trying to engage you in conversation about your work while you work? No, that’s also off limits. Stop work and have the conversation, but don’t try to do both. Have a firm “work or talk” rule.
• Refuse hovering. Supervisors, production managers, and service clients are some of the people who might want to watch you work. If this is distracting to you, don’t “suck it up” and try to work anyhow. Stop what you are doing, and respectfully tell them they are making you nervous by looking over your shoulder. Ask if they have any questions or concerns to discuss now. When done answering, ask them to stop back later, at which time you will be happy to take another pause to update them.
• Don’t distract others. If you see Cheryl with her head in a cabinet and a meter in her hand, now is not the time to thank her for her advice that allowed you to solve the problem you discussed with her this morning.

Tips for employers

• When talking with an employee, make him the only person in the room. By totally focusing on what this person is saying, you are sending the message that focus matters. There is probably no better way to do that.
• Avoid calling employees on their cell phones during working hours. To reduce distractions, try setting up a process by which they can call you. Many service firms have adopted this practice; service techs call when they arrive and again before they leave. Their supervisor gets interrupted, but their supervisor isn’t face-first in a distribution panel.
• Ensure supervisors understand that people in the field can either talk or work. They cannot do both, regardless of any assurances they make.
• Talk about the distraction problem. Bring it up at a safety meeting occasionally. Pick an employee at random, and ask him what distractions he has encountered lately.
• Fix systems that annoy or impede employees. Little things can annoy people and set them on the wrong mental path. They might do a slow simmer over it for hours. An employer can’t always hop onto a problem to fix it. One thing an employer can do is listen. If Jim complains that the parts bin never has ¾-in. EMT fittings when he needs them, but his boss listens to Jim and says something like, “Give me a couple of days, I’ll handle it,” you can bet Jim won’t be stewing on that issue later. If his boss simply waves him off, that treatment will intrude repeatedly into Jim’s mind. So always listen.

Focus when it matters

Nobody can focus 100% of the time. But each of us can give 100% focus for the times that truly matter. How do you know when those are? If a single mistake in what you are about to do could have serious consequences, it’s time to focus.

This can be well ahead of the time you actually have a tool in your hand. For example, during the job briefing, while reading the system drawings, during the training class for that equipment, or while interviewing the operator. Focus on each point where you need to get it right — not just at the point where there’s the most danger present.