Here are the tools I have seen mis-used the most in my life.

1. Screwdrivers – This simple tool is designed to translate force to rotate screws into and out of materials. there are several types, the most common being the phillips head and the slotted or regular. We use them as a pry bar, especially to open paint cans or put a bike tire on its rim. Not a good idea. At times we use them for the right thing, but we hold the object we are working on in a way that when the screwdriver slips, we could get a cut or even a puncture wound. Ouch!
2. Hammers – One person I know calls a hammer a “16 ounce wrench” because he uses a hammer to adjust things – to beat them into submission. Again, we use this tool mostly for what it was designed for, but many people don’t take the time to don even an inexpensive pair of safety glasses to provide protection from flying nails or materials that chip when they are hit.
3. Pliers, Channel-lock pliers, and any adjustable wrench. These tools are great, but their misuse can lead to aggravation. The biggest problem is using these tools for working with nuts and bolts. Anything other than socket wrenches, open-end wrenches or box wrenches used on a bolt head will compromise the geometry, making it harder to ever use the correct tool and creating sharp burrs. They also are prone to slipping, which leads to knuckle injuries.
4. Kitchen knives – When used to open that UPS package or as a pry bar to get those AA batteries loose from the remote, you are damaging the integrity of the blade, and making it less reliable when called upon to do the work you have it for. And that is when the knife slips off the green pepper and into your finger.
5. Scissors – Do you have one of those drawers in your house that is the repository for miscellaneous tools? I’ll bet the scissors in there are the most mis-used tool in the drawer. Mostly because they are used so frequently that they end up becoming the easiest thing to grab. Generally mis-used the same way a knife is. Here, the danger is in how we handle them when we start using them for alternative purposes.

Getting the right tool for the job is critical. Using it correctly is just as important. Do you have an experience where you didn’t think about the misuse of a tool until an accident happened? Let us all know about it, you might save us from injury.

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!

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!

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.

1. Litigation. There are lots of sites that tell you of the stupidest warning labels on things. Like the stroller warning that tells you to make sure there is no child in the stroller before folding it for storage (find this and similar warnings here).  As a result things are made safer all the time, and we become less sensitive to failures that could happen. Good that things are made safer, bad that we become less responsible for outcomes.
2. Legislation. Safer cars, safer braking, safer restraint systems – all good. OSHA regulations – also good. Thinking that as long as I follow the rules all the laws protect me – not so good. There will never be enough legislation (I hope) to force everything to be idiot-proof. As I’ve heard it said, we are always making better idiots.
3. Over-Parenting. How much is too much? Almost every parent finds themselves in a situation where their child is hurt and wonders what they could have done or should have done differently. I didn’t make a point of stepping in the way of my kids for everything they wanted to do that I felt was not totally safe, but I did say “NO” when they wanted to play on a friend’s trampoline, which the parents had placed way too close to the side of their house. Even when you try to prevent something, your child may try it anyway and will then learn that you were correct or that you were just too cautious.
4. We’re busy. I don’t know about you, but I am tired of hearing about texting while driving. It’s a bad idea, don’t do it. But in the rush to get through our busy day, it can easily feel like sending this one very important message can be done safely. Busy-ness is not a good excuse for safety shortcuts.
5. Convenience. I’ve stood on chairs hundreds of times in my life. But now when I need to clean the ceiling fan or change a ceiling light, I get out the ladder. It takes more time, but it is markedly safer.

We can’t eliminate all risk. But we can learn to do a better job of assessing risk and making choices that will lead to safe outcomes nearly all the time.

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!

In the skit, the SNL anchor is interviewing another pilot who acknowledges Sully’s heroic effort, but is a little bitter. Why? Because he learned how to avoid the birds.

I’m not a pilot, but I would think that if Sully could have avoided the birds, he would have. This was not a 4-wheel drive truck going 35 miles an hour when a child’s ball rolled into the street. This was a massive airplane. There is no traction in air for quick maneuvers or an easy way to swerve away from the danger – I don’t think. But the idea was still interesting to think about.

In industrial safety, as I have written before, an accident is frequently discussed afterward with the use of the word “luck”. Sometimes good luck is at play, and sometimes bad luck. It was bad luck that the flock and that airlane were on intersecting flight patterns. It was good luck that Sully happened to be a student of exactly that type of landing. Another pilot may have been able to do the same thing, or maybe not.

The pilot on SNL seemed to think that the skill of avoiding the birds is what should be acknowledged.

Do you have someone with a knack for not getting hurt? They seem to avoid the dangers? Or maybe they just know more about spotting the problems and steering clear. It might be that you have something to learn from them.

Oh, and for the record, I think Sully is a real hero. Not for making the landing, but for being ready to do just that. For caring enough about his work to know what to do when the unexpected happens.

Let’s be careful out there.

In his cartoon series, his nearsightedness is the basis of continual gags, as he walks from hazard to hazard, just avoiding disaster each time. It’s as though he has his own guardian angel carefully steering him on a clear path. At all times he is unaware of the many dangers he has avoided.

When it comes to safety, we can’t count on having the same result as we walk through life. The things we don’t see are the things that are most likely to get us. So we have to be aware. And if you are a team leader or a safety manager, you have an obligation to help others be aware as well.

How do you do that?

Daily. Weekly. Monthly. You do it through routine, just as any other skill is learned. You teach people awareness. You teach them how to identify risk that they may not have considered. We all need to help employees by “opening their eyes” to see more broadly.

Do you have a Magoo? What are you doing to help him out?

Let’s be careful out there.

In the midwest, when there were tornado warnings, we all moved to the basement. In the south, when the hurricane is approaching, you just move north. And in the snow country, you wear extra clothes, get good with a shovel, and keep an eye on the roads for ice.

Each type of weather, even a beautiful sunny day, requires some extra precaution. Sometimes that precaution is in the form of something you wear, like gloves or sunglasses. Other times it involves specific actions, like boarding up the house or putting  chains on your wheels to get through a snowy area.

Taking precautions takes time. But not too much. Just a simple inventory of a situation can make all the difference in your ability to successfully manage any risk. Drive slower in heavy rain. Wear sunscreen if you are going to be outside on a sunny day. Use your legs to lift that heavy snow shovel, not your back.

Sometimes the only thing between you and an injury is your willingness to think it through. Ask yourself what risks are at hand, and what you can do to minimize the impact of each one.

Do you consider the weather just to see if tomorrow will be good or bad, or does it impact the way you act each day?

As always, lets be careful out there.

The post title comes from the weapons policy for the event – and weapons were everywhere. Sort of scary for a first timer like me, but surprisingly, you get used to the craziness.

Since many of those attending identify themselves with their favorite characters, today’s list involves a count of what I saw there.

• 27 Indiana Joneses
• 2 Marios
• 1 cast of Futurama
• 5 Legend of Zelda Links
• 3 Wookies – we assume they were Chewbacca
• 14 Darth Vaders
• 2 Mad Hatters
• 1 Alice in Wonderland
• 1 Orc (Warhammer Game)
• 100 (or more) Storm Troopers
• 1 Wild Thing (see pic above)
• Various characters from Teen Fortress (Video Game)
• 1 Thomas the Train
• 2 Bob the Builders – no, wait, my son tells me that is the engineer from Teen Fortress, and yeah, he does look like Bob the Builder.
• 2 Princess Leias in Bikini (1 that shouldn’t have, really)
• 4 Princess Leias with Bun Hair and white robe
• 6 Ghostbusters
• 5 Creepy Masked Guy from “V is for Vendetta”
• Hundreds more Characters from Games, Movies, and Role Play that I do not know.

I saw no incidents of weapon policy violations, so for all you other HR-types out there, it just goes to show you the value of a good policy.

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 are more clever. Lots.

The reactions are interesting, and reflect my experience. It seems that some people know it’s coming and are committed to fulfilling the assumption. Others are shocked, tearful, angry, and even in deep denial.

It is difficult to predict the outcome of a meeting like this, which is why I recommend that some sort of security action take place. If I am working somewhere that has security personnel, we generally stage them nearby. If not, we ask a few people in the immediate area to work in a different office and put some supervisors nearby in case they are needed. While I have been nervous quite a few times, I’ve never had a fearful experience.

So I always get a kick out of the end of Top Chef, when one of the contestants is told “Please pack your knives and go home”. I don’t really want a fired employee to first get a hold of their most dangerous tool before they walk out the door. One precaution I would take is to say “We had your knives packed up while you were in here, and they will be delivered to your home”.

But reality TV is not so real, and I’m sure they aren’t considering this approach as an example of the right way to terminate an employee.

What security steps do you think are necessary in a true termination? Have you ever been truly afraid at work during a time of layoff or reduction?

It’s all a part of staying safe. Let’s be careful out there.

Your Judge checks against the defined principles and rules if the action taken was within guidelines or if the accepted practices were broken. Sometimes the judge is called upon to determine if a new recommended practice should replace a longstanding one. Is it safer? Is it easier to follow? Ask the judge.

We need all four aspects of these types, and yet we are usually not equally strong in each one. So when you are investigating, designing new practices, developing engineering solutions, or doing a job hazard analysis, it might help to make sure you bring all four viewpoints along. And if you can’t find them all in yourself, how about inviting others to participate? Give them a role and let them play it out. You might find yourself with a better solution and a stronger safety culture.

Is your judge harsh? Does the Judge stomp on the Artist, or shackle the Warrior? Is your Explorer too far out in front? Which is your strength?

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.