Uncareful People Are To Blame
Just Be Careful
When someone claims that people “not being careful” is a major source of accidents, then I’m almost certain that they aren’t looking for the real, correctable causes of problems.
Here is a Story to Illustrate the Point
A safety manager at a refinery once challenged me. He claimed that the only way to get people to do the right thing regarding safety was to be like a cop and give them a ticket when they violated the rules.
He had data to prove his point. “Our statistics show that 90% of our accidents are caused by 5% of the workforce.”
He explained that the accidents were caused by “careless, unsafe acts.” He declared that he didn’t need a root cause analysis; all he needed was more cops to hand out tickets.
His Challenge
Yes, he was serious. He challenged me:
“What would you do if you were in my shoes?“
I said, “You’re lucky! The answer is so clear. Just fire the people who have accidents. Getting rid of the bad people will cut your safety problems by 90%!”
He seemed taken aback. He responded,
“We’re a union plant.
We can’t fire employees for reporting an accident.”
I suggested that instead of blaming people, a better approach might be to find out what caused the accidents—the real, fixable root causes of the problems—and then fix them to prevent future accidents.
Think About It
Of course, a small percentage of employees were involved in accidents. Who would work at a facility where large fractions of the employees are maimed or killed each year? So, a small fraction of people being injured doesn’t prove anything.
But what if there are causes of accidents that we can’t see? What if management could do something about these unseen causes if we could somehow see them? Would trying something new to find these hidden causes and stop the accidents would be worthwhile?
I know the answer. You CAN find the root causes and improve performance.
Learn Advanced Root Cause Analysis
Are you interested in finding the root causes of your problems? Attend a TapRooT® Course and apply effective, advanced root cause analysis to stop repeat incidents and equipment failures.
We GUARANTEE our training:
Attend one of our courses. Go back to work and use what you have learned to analyze accidents, incidents, near-misses, equipment failures, operating issues, or quality problems. If you don’t find root causes that you previously would have overlooked and if you and your management don’t agree that the corrective actions you recommend are much more effective, just return your course materials, and we will refund the entire course fee.
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