Over the last two weeks we have talked about Human Performance error traps; while it is important to understand the elements that we can establish control over to influence our daily performance there is a component that is missing—the Personal Impact.

As we sit down each week, day or before we begin a work task to talk about safety and preventing accidents or injuries, the personal impact is something that we need to discuss; more specifically how an accident or injury is going to impact each of us on a personal level. Understanding how an accident will impact you personally is one way to get your attention and influence how safely we work as well as our safety values tied to the decisions that we make.

Over the course of this week, lets take a look at the different aspects of how an accident or injury will impact each of us.

Let’s Get Focused

Safety First – More than just a Slogan

You might be hearing this almost every day, it is most likely displayed in numerous places at your sites, and it has become part of our background – but has it gone to the point that this simple principle is being taken for granted?

Ask yourself and others if safety really does come first. When you consider if safety comes first, then where – to mind, in the decision making process, while assigning resources to a work assignment.

What about when – always, every now and then, after things go wrong. Finally, what sort of safety are we considering – nuclear, radiological, industrial, environmental, security, or even financial.

“Safety First” is far more than just a slogan, the meaning itself is BHI’s #1 Core Value and it applies to everything we do all the time. It should be reflected in each of our actions, decisions, and the successful results that we deliver.

Andy JordanDirector of Ops—Fossil

Diversity Quote

“People may be said to resemble not the bricks of which a houseis built, but the pieces of a picture puzzle, each differing in shape, but matching the rest, and thus bringing out the picture.”

Felix Adler

Accident effects

Our work day starts long before we arrive at work, it starts as we get out of bed at home. Our mind shifts from what we did over the weekend with friends or last night with our family to what we plan to accomplish today at work.

While you are considering today’s plan, this should include a simple question you challenge yourself with—”What’s the worst thing that could happen to me today?” Our work activity and safety focus should be on preventing this worst case scenario—but don’t forget all the other potential consequences along the way as well.

Now that you have thought about the possibilities, let’s consider What If for a moment:

• What if I don’t see a hazard?• What if I fall down walking to my work location?• What if I get hurt doing my job or on a task?

First of all, the hazards recognized later or an accident needs to be reported as soon as possible—but in the event you do get hurt a ripple effect will take place with a large impact on each of us personally. Depending on the severity of the injury, the impact will be emotional, mental and financial.

Emotional and Mental Impact

Even if an accident did not involve physical damage, there most likely will be an emotional toll to those involved. There are three common elements tied to the emotional impact:

• it was unexpected;• the person was unprepared;• and there was a feeling that nothing could be done to prevent it from happening.

It is not the event that determines whether something is traumatic or not, but more our individual experience of the event itself. The following are some examples of the emotional effects that have been observed as a result of an accident:

• Depression, despair and hopelessness• Anxiety• Panic attacks• Fearfulness• Compulsive and obsessive behaviors• Feeling out of control• Irritability, angry and resentment• Emotional numbness• Withdrawal from normal routine and relationships

Is your idea or image of the “Worst thing that could happen today” starting to shift a little bit yet?

Financial Impact

On average, past research indicates that an injured employee will bear between 25 and 30 percent of the total cost of an injury or accident. Keep in mind that these costs are not only considering the initial or follow-up visit to the doctor after the accident but everything, such as:

• loss of income• pain and suffering• loss of future earnings• medical costs• travel costs

This cost will rise sharply depending upon the severity of accident.

Impact to Family

Many of us go to work each day for one or more reasons—Family is one that we find is very common. We work to provide for our families so naturally when our ability to provide for our families is disrupted then our family is directly impacted.

When we consider providing for our family, don’t just think about financially because it goes far beyond that. We provide physically and emotionally to our families as well. So what does that look like?

Back or shoulder injury—can’t lift things greater than 5 lbs.Hand or finger injury—loss of hand, finger, loss of mobility/dexterityHead injury—concussion and loss of memoryLeg or foot injury—loss of limb or ability to walk

Those that mean the most to us in life are going to be impacted significantly and this you will not be able to control after the accident occurs.

But you can control these outcomes long before the accident…..

By now we should be able to get a full picture of just how important it is for us to focus on safety in everything that we do. We work safely every day not only for ourselves and co-workers, but also because those that matter to us most in life are counting on us each day we leave home and head to work.

Our Daily Goal is to return home safely and even better than we did before we left that morning. In the behavior based safety world this is all tied to your values. So when you find yourself making a decision at work, remember your values—each decision you make should consider the safety impact of what you are doing and take into account your values.

You and your family will be impacted the most from an accident at work!!

Personal Commitment

Having a personal commitment to safety and keeping it strong are more important than any safety program, procedure or rule.

In fact, programs, procedures, and rules depend on a strong personal commitment to safety in order to be implemented successfully.

Ask yourself where you are with your own safety attitude and behavior.

Are you 100% committed to safety?

Better yet, Are you 100% committed to safety, 100% of the time?

If you are, then great! If not, let’s look to see what we can do to improves this. Promise yourself to work on it and keep that promise. You will be glad you did in the end.

Attitudes…….

As we close out our look at the centers that impact our decision making process we end with Attitudes.

The attitude that you have will be clearly reflected in your performance. Good attitudes will translate into good performance and bad attitudes will end with bad performance.

Good safety performance meaning no accidents or events. Where a bad attitude will eventually result in an accident when it is allowed to blend in and influence your decision making process.

Although your attitude may only be a single element or piece of the decision making process, when you add beliefs, values, perceptions and attitude together—the impact on your decisions is far greater than you may realize.

Each of these elements is going to be taken into consideration in the blink of an eye on most occasions. That is why it is important for you to always be thinking about them so you can better align yourself with elements that will result in a positive result on your safety behavior.

Safety Note

A few years ago, I was supporting the startup of the control system for a Flue Gas Disposal (FGD) system on an 800 MW coal fired unit. The plant had added the support staff required to operate and maintain the FGD equipment.

I had originally hired on many years ago on a similar 800 MW unit and was familiar with the plant arrangement to include many of the obvious and not so obvious safety hazards.

As I was walking through the basement, I observed a worker in the basement using a fire hose to wash down floor adjacent to the generator potential transformers. I realized this constituted a significant safety hazard since the transformer drawers have live 26.5 kV feeds from the generator and are not wash down proof equipment.

I immediately went to the control room and related what I had observed to a member of plant management. I was reluctant to speak the worker since I was not a member of plant staff and in my own mind I rationalized I should not speak to the young man because it might make him or me uncomfortable.

As I have reflected on this incident over the years, I have realized that I was wrong not to speak to him at that moment and use it as valuable experience for both of us. For him it could have been a lifesaving moment and for me it was an opportunity to advise him of a hazard that I doubt he even knew existed. If anything had happened to that young man, I would never have forgiven myself.

As I reflected on this, I have thought that it is our responsibility to make sure we all go home at the end of our shift. If we see an unsafe condition, we owe it to ourselves and our coworkers to take immediate action even if it makes someone uncomfortable.

Willis HendricksEngineer—SUN