When you see it… (Error Trap)
Look closely at this mobile work cabinet and see if you can identify the “error trap.” The answer is two parts…
Safety Thought of the Week… Active Failures (Unsafe Acts): A Brief Refresher (James Reason)
Violations arise from motivational factors and fall into four types:routine (or corner-cutting) violations, thrill-seeking or optimizing violations, necessary violations and exceptional violations. Unsafe acts are of two distinct types: errors and violations. Errors arise from informational problems and fall into three categories: Everyone makes errors.
Human Factors (Energy Institute Video)
This is worth five minutes of our time! Human Factors(s) can be a massive driver of safety performance. This five-minute video from the Energy Institute does a great job of explaining what HF is all about. HF has been involved in just about every accident investigation I have been involved with. We must understand how
Former Production Manager Pleads Guilty After Releasing Chemical Pollutants into the Cape Fear River (Active Failure vs Latent Organizational Failure)
This case is a classic example of how Latent Organizational Failures INFLUENCE the decision-making of workers (and middle managers). At the end of this press release, the DOJ admits that “Company management had informed some of its employees that if operations came to a halt, the company would suffer serious financial harm, potentially including dissolution.”
Failing to control flammable vapor results in severe injuries for by-stander (video)
A video I posted over two years ago has come full circle. A citizen (some may call him homeless) was allowed to sit (and smoke) within 20′ of a gasoline tanker unloading operation at a gas station. His actions may not have been his sole demise, as we can see in the video evidence that
Never be too confident of our written SOPs/JSAs
We MUST never be too confident of our written SOPs/JSAs. There is a good reason why “Administrative Controls” are down on the Hierarchy of Controls. When we think our SOPs/Plans are infallible, our workers will show us a thing or two… And when we investigate adverse events and this leads us to “failure to follow
Learning Opportunity vs Discipline
There’s a massive difference that may require massively different approaches in how we respond to failures in administrative controls such as LOTO. Scenario #1: a worker with less than a year of experience, is tasked with isolating a PRCS that has 29 isolation points. It was his first time to do this isolation and was
Safety Thought of the Week… Reason’s “Swiss cheese” model of accident causation
In memory of James Reason, I thought it would be fitting to share, in my professional opinion, one of the greatest safety models of my career. If businesses could just embrace this model when it comes to how they investigate events, we could move workplace safety forward a couple of decades. The model is quite
Human Factors – Valve Positions
I came across this arrangement, and we debated the position of this valve for 20 minutes, and 7 of us never came to an agreement. We even looked at other tanks that had this valve, and they were different. The valve shown below had its handle reversed as the tank’s ladder was in the way
More fun with Warning Label language
I have shared many funny and confusing safety signs and labels. This one is another example of how NOT to write your warning label. Not only is it the LAST of six warnings, but can you see anything else with its failure… THANKS, Travis Rhoden, MS, CSP
WARNING! ADULT SAFETY CONTENT – Egress Map
You have to wonder if the creator(s) knew exactly what they were doing or if they were totally clueless. But what do you see when you look at the Emergency Exit map Of The Marriott Marquis San Diego. Thanks to ___________ (who wished to remain anonymous – why I am not sure) for their contribution.