Where Injuries Occur - Safety In The Mundane!

There is an entire world of unsafe actions, leading indicators, precursors of injury hiding in plain sight all around us. These are the unsafe behaviors that happen 24/7 in the mundane. 

Generally, employees are aware of the hazards and associated risks of their jobs whether task specific or facility/condition specific. Work planning and task analysis generally instruct employees. 

Accidents/Injuries are occurring outside the realm of work planning and control. 

Many of these accidents are occurring in the mundane. 

These “occurrences” tend to be: 

• Poorly & Improperly Analyzed 

• Thought of as a “personal” issue and not part of the work environment. 

• Seldom properly trended 

• Inadequately connected to the leading indicators.

 Accidents/Injuries have 3 Direct Causes

1.  Somebody did something to you 

• The valve is too high up to turn easily 
• Company gave you too short of a ladder to reach the valve safely 

2. You did something to yourself 

• You stood on a chair to reach the valve 
• You didn’t follow the valve procedure because you couldn’t remember where you left your ladder 

3. You ‘go away” momentarily 

• You were thinking about the football game when you missed a step on the ladder 
• You, fill in the blank _______________________ What is the Mundane? 

Those things everybody does all the time every day without thinking 

• Go/Come 
• Sit/Stand 
• Open/Close 
• Put/Take 
• What we do between tasks 
• Reach to pick up a wrench 
• Travel to and from duties 
• Go to get supplies It’s simply 

“Going Away We consider time spent in the mundane as our time. 

It is when we “think of other things” or “think of nothing”; it is natural and healthy to be “away”. 

• We spend a considerable part of work day in the mundane. 
• We spend a greater part of our “away from work” time in the mundane. 
• Every task we do has mundane time associated with it. 
• Time spent between tasks may occur in the mundane. 
• Time spent alone is more susceptible to being in the mundane. 

Many JSA, SOP, Task specific analysis programs, are still unaware of the impact of the mundane on Safety and loss management. TIME TO DO THE DISHES-Pay attention to the leading Indicators the acts not the numbers:

• How many times have dishes slipped? Almost every time I do the dishes. 
• Why did it slip this time? I wasn’t paying attention? 
• Why wasn’t I paying attention? Because I was listening to the radio. 

 If you are aware of the leading indicators, you’ve already collected the data you need. 

The challenge is, properly interpreting the data. Turn off the radio:

• Makes a boring job more boring 
• Speeds you up to finish the task 
• May result in more “wandering of the mind” 
• May result in focusing the mind completely away from the task. 

Be aware of the leading indicators and ACTIVELY ENGAGE Time to do the dishes!:

• Planning before “Going Away” re-engages your safety brain 
• Actively engage when you turn on the radio o “I know that glasses slip” 
• Actively engage when you turn on the water o “I know that glasses slip” 
• Actively engage when you pick up the dishes o “I know that glasses slip” 

The difficulty is in controlling the mundane BETWEEN tasks. This is when we often “Go away”. 

This is when we tend to pay no attention to leading indicators.

 This is when we do tend to ignore minor injuries or losses. 

This is when REAL injuries/losses occur. Identify the Scope of Work and Actively Engage (STOP & THINK).

If we don’t STOP to THINK about WHY we do something we may stop evaluating the hazard and not be prepared for hazard control in all situations. 

• Wear your Safety belt OR Actively Engage to consider “Why” we wear safety belts 
• Put on PPE or Actively Engage to consider “Why” we put on PPE 
• Look both ways before entering traffic or Actively Engage to consider “All” traffic Actively Engaging Opens our Minds to the Unexpected Remembering the Leading Indicators raises our awareness and prepares us for what has occurred in similar situations. Reinforcing by reminding embeds the process in our minds and adds societal awareness to our culture. 

Active awareness re-engages our safety brain:

• Reinforce good behavior by reminding your coworker. 
• Actively Engage to remind ourselves and others
• Actively Engage to reinforce the cultural aspect 
• Create awareness of self-observation 
• Talk about the everyday leading indicators 
• Reinforce the 24/7 concerns of “going away” 
• Focus observational discussions on “the mundane” 

Continue to direct observations into smaller slices of the pie:

• Look for aspects of the mundane in investigations. 
• Reinforce awareness of the leading indicators in the mundane