Turning would be different. You could easily underestimate the position of the car now that you would be sitting closer to the right wheel than the left.  Assuming the position of the brake and gas pedals is switched, you would have to get accustomed to that. And if it was a manual transmission, you would be even more challenged. If you are good at checking over your shoulders, that process would not be as simple as you might think. Blind spots are reversed, and your brain just doesn’t catch up right away.

The biggest adjustment would be if you wanted to pass on a two lane road. There would be no way to asses the dangers of moving into the oncoming lane in the first place.

This is why driving in adverse conditions, like heavy rain, or snow and ice, can be problematic. Not because cars can’t handle them, but because our normal driving leaves us in a state of simplified attentiveness. We have it mastered in most cases, and we think about many things while we are driving. When conditions get bad, we sit up, turn the radio down, and concentrate just a little harder.

Are you concentrating enough on your driving? How much do you rely on the other people sharing the road with you.

If we all turn our attention up just a notch or two, it’s possible we could reduce the total number of accidents on our busy highways.

And yes, I was at a complete stop before I even reached for the phone to take this picture, and no cars were moving at the time. Cars standing still also reduces accidents, but we just can’t get anywhere then!

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.

The reason is simple enough – the easier a sign is to read, the less a driver’s attention is taken from the road to read the sign. One of the interesting aspects of this idea is that it applies only to positive contrast signs – light letters on a dark background. In the examples shown here of negative contrast, the Clearview type is possibly less effective than the current standard. It has been recommended that signs with negative contrast remain under the old standard.

The Clearview decision was made in 2004, with an expectation that signs would change over to that font in the following 15 years.

I researched what I could on this topic, and there is a lot of science behind it all, including the studies on the negative contrast. In some areas of government, they might have concluded that until they can find a type style that is more effective in all situations, then they shouldn’t make the change. But in this case, the benefits of changing a majority of the signage outweigh the possibility of a one-type-works-for-all solution.

Will we ever know if this saves lives? Not likely. And since money is spent on new signage routinely (signs get damaged, stolen, or weathered) it does not have a significant financial impact. I’m glad there is some science behind the choice, that our highway engineers are looking for ways to make our roadways just a little bit safer. If you have any exposure to continuous improvement, you realize this is worth looking at.

Do you think signs matter to you? I’m not sure I read them much where I live, and when I am in unfamiliar areas, my GPS pretty much tells me what I need to know. What do you think – will emerging technologies make this a non-solution? Will sign readability not be a critical issue in the future?

My friends assumed that meant the questions were along the lines of: “If an engineer pulls two socks from his drawer, and there are 33 total socks of 4 different colors, what are the odds he will pull a matching pair without looking?” Answer: If he’s an engineer, no chance.

All kidding aside, I am still good in math, so when people start to provide statistics about anything, I listen with a bit of skepticism. For example, most of us have heard news reports over a holiday weekend that highlight how many traffic deaths have occurred compared to the same weekend in previous years. Sometimes, facts are added like how many of the people who died were wearing seatbelts.

In reality, number of deaths compared year to year doesn’t tell you much. A few more or a few less is normal variability. What matters is looking at all sorts of other data, like how many people were on the road, what is the historical trend over several years, and what has changed in laws and road structure. The number who were wearing seat belts is even less important without knowing how many non-fatal accidents were recorded and the related seat belt stats to compare.

In industry, the US government established standards for measuring and reporting safety in the workplace. The numbers are calculated monthly, reported annually, and are used by some companies to evaluate their managers. There are all sorts of definitions about what must be recorded as an accident, when it becomes a lost time accident, and how to calculate an incident rate based on hours worked. When the definitions change, many managers worry it will impact their numbers.

The truth is, changing the rules of how we measure outcome won’t change the outcome. Taking action changes the outcome.

Here are the numbers that matter:

• How many incidents did you effectively investigate and resolve in the last 12 months?
• What percentage of your employees say that safety in their primary accountability?
• What percentage of your employees would welcome input from their co-workers on how to work more safely?
• What have you done to make the workplace safer this year than it was before?

These are the numbers that matter. These are the numbers that say you are making the choice for safety.

Tell us all how you make things safer where you work.

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there!

Do you know much about your own decision processes? Are you risk-averse? We think differently depending on how the choices are stated.

Consider this situation:

You have to choose between either

- an 80% chance of winning $4,000 with a 20% chance of winning nothing

or

- a 100% chance of receiving $3,000

Then look at this situation:

you can chose between

- an 80% chance of losing $4,000 with a 20% chance of breaking even

or

- a 100% chance of losing $3,000

In a formal study, 80% of the people chose the certain outcome in situation #1 ($3,000) even though the gamble had a higher payout.

In situation #2, 92% of the people chose the gamble, even though it’s mathematical expectation of a loss of $3,200 is larger than the certain loss of $3,000. When the choice involves loss of money, we are risk seekers and not risk averse.

These results are similar to people’s views of safety. The risk has to be evident and understandable in order for people to avoid the risk. If it is abstract or unknown, then people are less likely to use the provided protective gear or equipment. In my experience as a driver, for example, I can only recall two times in 40 years when wearing my seat belt mattered. So I could wear it less often and it probably won’t matter. The only problem is, I can’t predict when the next time I should be wearing it will be.

What did your choices to the situations above tell you about your risk aversion? Do you think that your answers were all about the benjamins? Would you have a different view if the content were about four fingers or three fingers?

Next post, we’ll look at two more situations with more serious implications. Will your answers or approach change? We’ll see…

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there!

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists and the others linked there always give you something to think about, and may even make you smile!

I’ve lived in places that routinely get weather like this, but Atlanta gets it so infrequently that people don’t get a chance to develop the skills to drive when conditions are icy. More importantly, we don’t work on the skill of deciding not to drive. I saw several interviews on the news with drivers who thought they could handle it, but they were wrong.

Many smart people of science have made great discoveries about how consistently the world works, and if we take the time to understand the rules they have discovered, we could save ourselves from life-threatening accidents. Because, you see, you can hardly call them accidents when nature is performing as predicted.

1. Gravity works, always. The exact rate of acceleration that the earth’s gravity is responsible for (9.8 meters per second squared) doesn’t matter. What matters is that it is relentless. The farther away you take yourself from a stable, level surface, the greater will be your speed at impact with the next surface between you and the earth. Climbing a ladder without setting it up correctly, or getting on a roof without the right kind of harness or other safety precaution, or just jumping on a trampoline without spotters are all activities that people insist upon as though gravity won’t be a nuisance to them.
2. Machines can multiply forces. Why is this important? Think about your car. If you are old enough to have driven a car that didn’t have power steering, you know that having two hands on the wheel was necessary at all times. Your car wants to travel in a straight line. When you turn the wheel, even a little bit, your front wheels dig into the pavement with tremendous force to move the car into another direction. But power brakes and steering make us feel like those forces are minimal. So when I heard a driver say he though he could handle the icy hill, he was totally neglecting the fact that without the tires biting into the pavement, no steering matters, the car wants to go in a straight line. The center of the car. It may start to fishtail a bit and move sideways, but the center is moving straight, and no amount of steering is going to change how the tires behave on ice.

So that’s it. Ice is not asphalt, and gravity never quits.

Any simple science lessons you have encountered that help you be safer?

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists and the others linked there always give you something to think about, and may even make you smile!

SaferByChoice is all about that idea. That if we equip people to make the best decisions, we will all be safer. As a result, everyone is better off. Employees are not compromised, and the business runs with less interruption.

I am traveling this week, and awoke this morning to see the scene you see with this post. Not the worst snowstorm of all time, and not a bad one by many standards. But the roads were not clear, my rental was a small, rear-wheel drive car, and the news reporters said local police were asking that non-essential travel be delayed.

Less than 10 years ago I would have convinced myself to get out there, clear the snow off the car, and get to the office. Today I thought about it for a bit, then I realized that I had all I needed on my PC, I had a good wireless connection, and I had a phone. That pretty much meant that my travel was non-essential. I had the face-to-face meetings that I came here for scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday, so there was no reason to rush to the local office today.

If there were someone expecting me in the office today, I believe I would have made the same decision. I am obligated to make good decisions for my company. Good business decisions, good quality decisions, good HR decisions, good safety decisions. I probably could handle the risks associated in driving in blowing snow, on roads that are not completely clean, but I don’t have to. Truth is, if I had an accident, I would be saying that I never should have gone out.

So instead, I was more productive than usual today. No travel time, no one stopping by the office to chat. and for an INTP like me, that makes for a great day!

Are you obligated to be safe? Do you compromise that obligation? What are you going to do about it?

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.

If he had fallen a little bit to one side or other of the roots, he may have been bruised but OK. Bad luck was hitting the roots, bad choice was trying to reach too far. We should have gotten down and moved the ladder to where we needed it to be. I think of this every year when I get out the big ladder to do my Christmas lights.

Anyway, there are a few moments of personal safety that I would like back. None of them had serious consequences, but the outcomes could have been much worse. I can’t be lucky forever!

1. When Mikey Franco encouraged me to take the short-cut path down the hill to the valley by my childhood home. I tumbled, rolled, and screamed, and in the end I had a few scratches and bruises. It was not a short fall. It could have killed me.
2. When I drove my VW hatchback into the side of another car that had spun out on the freeway in a snowstorm. By the time I saw the other car, the best I could do is try and steer between the car and the guardrail, but steering wasn’t really working. I was driving too fast for the weather. Seatbelts saved my life.
3. When I was installing some new equipment early in the engineering part of my career. Long hours and frequent changes to machine adjustment led me to reach in where I shouldn’t have. I walked away with a contusion, and I’ve seen others lose fingers doing the same thing.
4. Driving in another snowstorm 10 years later because we had tickets to see a play in Schenectady. Nothing happened. It was just stupid.
5. Driving after alcohol consumption. I did it, more than a few times. But one time in particular I’d like to have back. Not because of anything that happened, but when you don’t remember how you got home, and you realize you drove, that’s just wrong. That was over 30 years ago and taught me a lot.
6. Oh yeah, and the time I picked up the hot end of a just-burned-out sparkler. You never do THAT twice, but wish you had never done it in the first place.

All things considered, I’ve been pretty lucky when I’ve made bad choices. How about you? Any do-overs?

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists and the others linked there always give you something to think about, and may even make you smile!

Driving is hazardous. It also can be time-consuming, particularly if you live far from work or take a crowded commute. And as I pointed out on my list last week, people sometimes compromise their safety in the name of expediency – they text while driving.

In the world of industrial safety, companies who excel do not depend on the law to tell them what they can or cannot do. They do the things that must be done to assure employee safety. No doubt, many factories are safer than they might otherwise be due to OSHA regulation and supervision, but the best don’t need that. You shouldn’t either.

You probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there is a technological fix you can apply to prevent texting while in a moving vehicle. For Android phones, you can buy Textecution, which is advertised as something to put on your teenager’s phone.

Then there’s TXTBlocker, which again is advertised to parents. And Employers.

And coming soon, you can buy iZup (get it, eyes up) for Android and Windows smartphones.

Call records will easily show if you were texting near the time of an accident. But do you really need a software solution? What you really need is a personal discipline solution. If you, as an adult or parent cannot see or understand that this is a dangerous problem, then don’t lecture your kids. If you can, then teach your kids to manage it. Sure, you can pay for the software to prevent it, but there are always going to be new ways to work around software, and kids will figure it out.

Trust but verify. Check the phone records against the time you know your son or daughter was out. They will tell you and you can take the appropriate action. And in the meantime, lead by example. Don’t send or read text messages while you are operating your vehicle. It can wait. Text with integrity.

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.

1. Check your tires for wear and proper inflation. Whether you have snow near you or not, this should be done a couple times a year anyway. If you are starting to notice the tread wear bars, you should be thinking about taking the car to the tire shop.
2. If you park outside and there is ice or frost on the windshield or rear window, scrape it off! Don’t just clear a little view area that you think will be enough until the defroster kicks in. Put a good scraper in your car so it is there when you need it.
3. Keep plenty of gas in your tank. If you ever get stranded (and I have been!) you do not want to be hiking for gas or risk running out while you are waiting for a storm to blow by.
4. If you are anything like me (bald) or even close, you need a hat. A large percentage of body heat is lost from your head. The longer you might be outside, the more important this becomes. And on the subject of protective clothing, get some gloves and use them. Not just when it is below freezing, when there is the greatest danger to you physically, but anytime the temperature is cold enough to keep your hands in your pockets.
5. If you have a gas furnace, have it inspected annually by a professional. I had a problem with no heat a few years ago and when the technician came to check it out, he had to lock out the gas line until I replaced the burner. It was so badly corroded it was a potential explosion problem.
6. Check that all your windows are closed tight, and door seals are intact. Heat loss in these areas is greatest, and when the cold winds blow, problems in this area suck money (heat) right out of your house.
7. If you have gas logs, make sure they are properly vented or are approved for non-ventilated spaces. Heat is good, asphyxiation is bad.
8. If you live where there is danger of hard frost, turn off the water supply to outdoor faucets. Remove all hoses that might be attached. If there is water in the line when the deep freeze comes, pipes will crack or break.

There are so many more things to consider, but this list will probably trigger other ideas for you. Got any more? Share them below if you please.

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists and the others linked there always give you something to think about, and may even make you smile!

When my son was first driving, he told me he thought he was a good driver. I told him he was, but that the real test is how he would handle the vehicle and himself when the unexpected happens. A tire failure. An animal runs in front of the car. Driving in a snowstorm. Now he’s 27, and he’s a better driver than he was before, because he’s gained experience and learned from that. He’s had many “moments of choice” when he had to call on his knowledge or experience to turn into the skid, or ease slowly to the side of the road, or take whatever maneuver the situation may have called for.

If you are in a job that has anything to do with people, especially leading or training them in any way, safety is part of your profession, whether you acknowledge it or not. You are in a position to help prevent accidents and injuries. For you, the moment of choice is happening constantly. You are looking at the equipment, the machinery, the workers, the office, the conditions all around you and trying to make them all flow together in a way that is good for your business. And the safest possible way is good for business.

Have you had a moment of choice today? I’ll bet you have. It may have been a choice regarding taking that cell phone call in the car, or even considering reading or answering a text message while driving. Maybe it was walking through a factory, you saw someone doing something that could be done with far less risk, and you took the time to point out the alternative, or you chose not to.

Did you have a moment of choice this week that you can point to as one that made a big difference, either for your own safety or those you work with? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.