S11Ep7 Story Series: Journey from Close Call to Safety Expertise

The SafeStart Story Series continues with a bit of a twist—it starts by giving you the Critical Error Reduction Techniques (CERTs) along with a vivid off-the-job near-miss story before pausing for discussion and coming back to identify the states and errors involved. 

Host: Danny Smith
Guest: Cindy Wilson

Transcript

Danny Smith 0:08

Welcome back to SafeTalk with Safe Start I'm Danny Smith . We continue our story series , but this time with a bit of a twist . We're going to give you the Critical Error Reduction Techniques , or CERTs, and then we'll pause for a discussion , and then what we'd like for you to do is to talk about the states that were involved . So joining me today is Cindy Wilson , and Cindy is Safe Start's People and Culture Manager . So , Cindy , Cindy of all , welcome to the podcast .

Cindy Wilson 0:36

Thank you so much , Danny , and thank you for the invitation . I'm really happy to be here today .

Danny Smith 0:41

It's great to have you . Cindy's predecessor for those of you who don't know was our Director of Operations and Human Resources , and Cindy's title is different it is the People and Culture manager . I believe I got that correct and that really reflects a bit more of her focus and the values of the organization of Safe Start itself . Cindy , tell our listeners a little bit about a People and Culture manager and how that really is different from the traditional role of an HR manager .

Cindy Wilson 1:11

Well , Danny , from my view , HR focuses on the management of the company's relationship with its employees , while People and Culture management focuses on the aspects of the employees' relationship with the company . The Culture manager flips the scripts and puts the employees first . So it's about a transition from a transactional HR mindset to a more strategic and consultative people and culture approach . It's a people-based method rather than a policy-based method . Our employees aren't our resources or assets . We don't own them . They have a choice to come to work for us or not , so we strive to provide a culture and environment that helps ensure they want to come to work every day . So , for example , at Safe Start , we are One Team . We work hard to be inclusive , we embrace diversity and we encourage everyone to be their authentic selves . As the Safe Start PCM , my role is to embrace and support our culture , goals of respect , growth , innovation and fun .

Danny Smith 2:15

That's great . I love the way you put that and it does fit so much into what we as an organization really are all about right ? So now that we have that kind of out of the way and I think that's an important thing to start with you have a story of when you were first exposed to the Safe Start concepts and how you use the Critical Error Reduction Techniques to avoid , at best , what could have been a very messy situation , at worst , a serious injury . So tell us a bit about your experience .

Cindy Wilson 2:44

So , Danny , last summer was a very wet summer for us , and the pond in our yard had flooded and made half of our yard a complete swamp land . So one evening after a long day at work , I was at home and getting ready to start preparing dinner when I realized that we didn't have enough green beans . I was absolutely starving , so went down to the garden bed with my scissors to harvest some more . As you may know , harvesting green beans can be challenging . As they like to hide behind the leaves , it could be pretty tricky to find .

Cindy Wilson 3:15

I was searching for beans while walking around the raised yard in bed , keeping my eyes firmly on the plants . As I was doing this , I remembered my recent Safe Start training and the habit that I was currently working on , which was moving your eyes before moving your body , and I became aware of the risk of what I was doing . I stopped and looked at the ground to my left before taking my next step . Thank goodness I did , because if I hadn't , my next step would have taken me into the flooded part of the yard and I likely would have fallen in the swamp , since there was no solid footing . I could only imagine how bad that would have been , since I had scissors in my hands . In addition , I can't even begin to imagine the amount of bacteria and other hazards in that swamp water .

Danny Smith 3:56

Thanks for this , story , in that example that's a great , great example of this . So , all right , gang , here's where we pause the podcast for you , and what we would like for you to do is to think a bit about the states and errors that could have been a part of Cindy's near-miss situation that we just talked about . So I'd also like for you to talk a little bit more about how bad this could have been . We touched on it just a little bit . Add to that a bit , if you would . Cindy , and I'll be back in just a couple moments here and we'll talk a bit about it more . So pause the podcast and we'll be right back . Okay , we're back . So , Cindy , let's start out with the states that you were in there . What states do you think were kind of leading to this potential situation ?

Cindy Wilson 4:44

Well , it was at the end of a long day , so definitely fatigue . Working on the habit of looking before I moved is to compensate for complacency , so we can definitely check that one off as well . And I believe rushing as well . As I mentioned , I was preparing dinner and I did want to get back to the kitchen as quickly as possible . Looking back on this near miss , I could have triggered on the rushing and fatigue , but I just wasn't that familiar with the concepts at that time . I had just completed my training . But here's what I found really interesting by working on the habit of moving my eyes first , it helped me compensate for my lack of self-triggering skills .

Danny Smith 5:22

Sure , and with that , thinking about the errors that were involved there . Certainly there could have been line of fire with the scissors , right , and I guess perhaps balance , traction and grip , but both of those really stemmed from the fact that you were focused , both mentally and with your eyes , more so on the plants themselves and not where you were stepping right , until you had that moment of realization there , right .

Cindy Wilson 5:46

Absolutely .

Danny Smith 5:48

So thinking a bit about this how much course could this have been ? We kind of alluded to a bit of that earlier , but what else could have happened here ?

Cindy Wilson 5:57

Well , as we talked about the scissors , they absolutely could have punctured me if I had not been working on the habit or I had fallen . In addition , the swampy water and the bacteria that's in there . You don't have to be in the medical professional to figure out that bacteria and an open wound could seriously spell trouble , perhaps even life threatening .

Danny Smith 6:15

Absolutely . I was just thinking . You know , that's kind of the beauty behind that question of how it could be worse . It takes a near miss , something we typically dismiss as a one-off , and it really puts it into risk perspective . And once that risk comes into proper perspective , we really find the motivation to do the work required to improve the skills . So one final question here were the green beans good ?

Cindy Wilson 6:44

You bet Danny, SafeS tart thank you for helping ensure that my vegetable harvesting was safe and successful . Dinner was absolutely delicious that night .

Danny Smith 6:53

I am a big green bean fan myself , so I'm sure they were great . So , Cindy , thanks for joining us first of all , but second of all , thanks for sharing the story . It really underscores the value of near- miss reporting and really of analyzing close calls , which is another one of those SafeS tart Critical Error Reduction Techniques . Giving us that opportunity when we have that free learning opportunity to look back and see how things could have been worse and , more importantly , how those Critical Error Reduction Techniques can help us from doing , in your case , working on that habit . And you know that one habit , as many of our listeners have heard me say , is that one habit has helped me so much through the years , so I certainly can see how you kind of latched onto that one for sure , right ?

Cindy Wilson 7:37

Absolutely .

Danny Smith 7:39

Well , thanks again for joining us today . On behalf of Cindy and the entire Safe Talk team , thank you all for choosing to spend some of your day with us and for Safe Talk with Safe Start . I'm Danny Smith . Have a great day .