When I worked in a facility that put these in place, I had the pleasure of working with one of those creative genius types. This guy had incredibly good concepts, and a ton of energy to help deliver them. Frequently, however, he was seen as just plain crazy.

My favorite part of new employee orientation was when he was called in to teach the importance of the safety obligations. He had a unique way of demonstrating the first obligation – We are obligated to refuse to do work we cannot do safely.

After explaining the concept of the obligations, and defining the first one, he would ask for a volunteer to step forward. He would walk over to a desk on the side wall and open the top drawer. He explained that this was new, super-safe office furniture. It had two safety systems built in. The first was a sensor that would keep the drawer from closing if something was not completely in the drawer. Second, if there were a sudden movement, as if to slam the drawer, it would lock up just like a seatbelt does when there is a sudden pull. These safety features, he would explain, would assure that no one could get their hand caught in an office desk drawer, a frequent form of office injury.

Then, he would open the drawer and ask the volunteer to stick his hand into it so he could show how the systems worked. Sometimes, the person would just do it, and other times they would hesitate. If they said, “I refuse to do that” he would say “but it’s not unsafe, I just explained to you the safety systems that are built in”. At this point, regardless of what the volunteer did, he helped them see the most important aspect.

Even if you think you are protected, that doesn’t mean the protections can’t fail.

What people learned in this training was the importance not only of refusing to do work that could not be done safey, but also of refusing to take any risk that they don’t have to. Reaching into the drawer to help demonstrate the safety systems is not necessary. Plus, the systems can fail.

The real importance of this first obligation is recognizing that none of us need to take unnecessary risk. Just because someone in authority asks you to do something, you still need to think for yourself. Can I do that thing safely?

Well, can you?

Thanks, and lets be careful out there.

The biggest argument against requiring helmet use is that it is not preventive. Education about safe riding can save more lives than the wearing of helmets. Anyone who has ever worked in the safety field would agree that education and training are far more important than protective equipment, but they would also say that both are required.

Anyway, as the post title suggests, you don’t have to take safety precautions! If you live in a state that does require helmets, it is obvious when you are breaking the law. But what about all the other safety precautions that engineers have made for us – can we override them if we wish? You bet you can!

CAUTION – THESE ARE ALL THING NOT TO DO! You may recognize that people do them, but they are increasing the likelihood of accident or injury.

1. Clip ground plugs and adapters. This is less of a problem today than it was 20 years ago, but if you had a three prong plug and no outlets to match, the quickest solution was to clip the grounding part of the plug. You could use an adapter, but unless you grounded the adapter you were doing the same thing.
2. Buckle seat belts. Those annoying bells and buzzers can go away if you just buckle the belt behind you. At least on some cars. They keep making them smarter and smarter you know. Because we still insist on bypassing proven safety methods.
3. Buy bigger fuses. Most of us have breakers in an electrical box somewhere in the house, some still have the old fuses. If a circuit blows the fuse too often you could just put in a bigger  breaker, a bigger fuse, or better yet, a penny!
4. Bring on the extension cords and power strips. As our gadget inventory grows, so does our need for electrical power. What used to only be a problem at Christmas time can plague us all year. Most of us know that overloading an outlet can be a problem, but hey, the breaker will trip of the fuse will blow right? Unless we followed #3.
5. And while speaking of electricity, if the ground fault interrupter in your bathroom or kitchen needs to be replaced, you could replace it with a cheaper normal plug and not have the nuisance of the plug tripping out at times. Double win!
6. Power mower kill switch. Most power mowers today have a bar at the handle that needs to be squeezed for the engine to run. It’s called a dead man switch. If something happens to the operator, the machine won’t keep running. Unfortunately, the operator leaving the machine run while they moved something out of the way or reached to clear an obstacle was frequently the one injured. But don’t worry, you could just use tape or twine to tie it up. Problem solved.

OK, as I stated above – THESE ARE ALL BAD IDEAS! Do not do these things. If there is a safety measure or precaution you don’t like, do not override it. You may not be aware of every aspect that it was created for in the first place. It was not created to annoy you, but to protect you in some way. Sort of like how some people see their parents.

We all override some aspect of our personal safety. I stood on a chair recently (when no one was looking) because I had loaned out my ladder. Bad choice. How about you, when was the last time you consciously chose the less safe alternative?

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.

In my industrial experience, that is a clear near miss, and should be documented for the learning. History has shown us that if the population of near miss incidents grows, then eventually you have a serious injury or property damage. This incident was significant to me because it foreshadows something more serious if I don’t correct the root cause. My estimation is that the root cause is that I have fallen into more of an automatic mode in driving my car. I am willing to divert my focus for moments at a time because everything looks fine.

The corrective action is clear. In this case, set up the GPS before you leave. It’s easy to do and is correct the majority of the time. Fooling with it while driving is a potential problem. The other corrective action is to let the passenger work on non-driving tasks, and dedicate my energy and focus to the task of operating the motor vehicle within the rules of the road.

Have you had a near miss recently? Did you make a note of the root cause and think about a permanent fix? It will greatly reduce your likelihood of injury and may even save your life!

As always, and I need to heed my own advice here, let’s be careful out there.

Technology keeps coming at us so fast, and we seem so anxious to learn how to use it to enhance our lives and potentially make us more “productive”. But it’s also distracting, and sometimes too convenient. It’s easy to grab the cell phone and put it in your pocket so it is with you wherever you go.

I went to the grocery store the other day and didn’t take my cell phone with me. For me, that’s like not having a list because usually I get a call while I’m there to get one or two more items. But it didn’t matter. No one tried to call me, and I didn’t have to go back to the store for something else. Most importantly, I was not tempted to answer the phone or make a call while driving.

As new technologies and tools enter our lives, we are eager to see how they can be put to the best use. Unfortunately, we don’t always look at how the use of the technology may interfere with other tasks, and may introduce a hazard we don’t immediately recognize.

Please consider how a simple device can represent a hazard when used at the wrong time, when it diverts your attention from something more important – like driving. Are you taking any unnecessary risks when using technology? Do you know people who are increasing their risk of injury by inappropriate attention to gadgets?

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.