S13Ep10: Story Series: Combating Complacency with Safe Habits

Have you ever consciously prevented an injury from happening? Our Story Series continues as Renée recounts a day that she was working on her habits and her common near miss in the office did not become a serious injury as a result of her new habit.

Host: Tim Page-Bottorff
Guest: Renée Metherel 

Transcript

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

00:08

Hey, welcome back to SafeTalk with SafeStart. I'm Tim Page-Bottorff, and today we're going to continue our story series, and joining me is Renee Metherel. Renee is a CRM support specialist for SafeStart, that is, a client relationship manager. So, Renee, welcome to the podcast. 

Renee Metherel Guest

00:24

Thanks for the invitation. This is different from chatting via Skype. I'm used to catching up with you here at the home office. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

00:31

I know, tell me about it. I'm really glad we got to catch up today. All right, so let's remind everybody how this works and how to use this episode. Renee's going to share a story and I'm going to tell you where to pause and have a discussion with your team, and then Renee and I will be back to share our thoughts. So, Renee, are you ready to get started? I am All right, let's get on it. Tell us your story. 

Renee Metherel Guest

00:54

Okay, I was working on the line of fire. Habit At the office here we have lots of blind corners and short I can't see over walls, so I have almost bumped into people a few times. It was a habit I was trying to develop was to stop at the blind corner and peek around to make sure that the coast was clear. This one particular day was on my back to, on my way back to my desk, after making a cup of tea and just a side note, my cups you could almost stick your whole head in. I love huge cups for my tea. So I was on my way back to my desk and just as I was approaching the blind corner I remembered my habit and stopped to peek around the corner just as someone came barreling through. I was able to avoid the collision simply because I was looking for it. Either one or both of us would have been covered in scalding hot tea had I not stopped to check that corner. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

01:49

Oh, my goodness, I can imagine. All right. So this is a great spot for us to pause for our group discussion. And now Renee gave you the Critical Error ReductionTechniques that she worked on work on habits and we would like for you to discuss the states and errors that could be involved, and don't forget to check how this could have been worse. And then, when you're done, Renee and I will actually come back and we'll share our thoughts. So let's go ahead and pause here for just a minute. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

02:16

All right, we're back, Renee. There's a bit more to the story, isn't there? 

Renee Metherel Guest

02:21

There is. The person was obviously surprised and then very grateful that we didn't collide and I shared the habit that I was working on with them. They agreed that it was a great habit to build and they were determined to build the same habit. Due to our close call, I still look around blind corners many years later, not just at the office, but wherever I am grocery shopping, driving my car everywhere. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

02:46

Okay, I appreciate that habit. I know it's something I've got to definitely work on too. So, Renee, what do you think, what do you come up for States and errors? And, if you want, you can lead us into previous kinds of situations where you might've been in a state and error. So, but in this case, what do you think with the states and the errors? 

 Renee Metherel Guest

03:05

Well as you know, working on habits is the best way to compensate for complacency. You can't always be thinking about safety, so you want your habits, or what you normally do, to be as safe as possible, like slowing down and taking a peek around blind corners. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

03:19

All right, just like three points of contact for me, or personally for me, or even working on moving your eyes before you move your body or vehicle. Those are great habits to work on. And so you talked about complacency being the state. So what about the errors? What were the errors that this habit avoided? 

Renee Metherel Guest

03:38

Eyes and mind not on task and line of fire with scalding hot tea. So now we're in an office environment, so second-degree burns would have been the worst-case scenario. However, I've been thinking about this and a lot of our clients handle caustic material and in those cases, the same state of error pattern applies with much more hazardous energy. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

04:02

Yeah, that's a great point and I'm often asked when I go out and do SafeStart training. You know people say, well, there's no real big hazards here in the office and, quite frankly, based on your story, it proves a point that there are. And it's a great point too when you talk about hazardous energy and we often overlook about that second part for self-triggering. You know you can self-trigger on a state or a state of mind like rushing and frustration or fatigue. But the second part of that is really self-triggering on the amount of hazardous energy, such as maybe working with caustics or acids, and in this case, it's important to follow procedures such as lids and maybe human factors such as eliminating a pinch grip on your tea. I can imagine that you wouldn't have a pinch grip. You probably need two or three hands to handle your big mugs, and so you also described the other person as barreling. So a little may be on their part. And I also found it interesting that our colleague was interested in working on the same habit. Did you see the same? 

Renee Metherel Guest

05:01

Yes, yeah. That credit does go to our corporate culture, though, where we can talk about safety in a non-judgmental way, and the lesson Larry passed on to us a long time ago it's always better to tell folks the habits that you're working on instead of telling them what they should be working on. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

05:21

Oh, sage advice, Indeed. I have to say that was incredible. Thank you so much for your story and I want to say thank you personally for joining us today and sharing that story. 

Renee Metherel Guest

05:31

Oh, it's been my pleasure and I look forward to seeing you in the office Meanwhile. Safe travels, my friend. 

Tim Page-Bottorff Host

05:34

Oh, thank you so much, and don't worry if you guys are, when you paused you had to story. You know reflection and your answers differed from ours. The point is in the process and getting to think about it and we do appreciate you taking the time. On behalf of Renee and the entire SafeTalk team thanks for spending part of your day with us. Keep working on those safety-related habits. For SafeTalk with SafeStart, I'm Tim Page-Bottorff, I'll see you down the road.