Pit & Quarry, August 2010

Safety E verything is connected Granted some connections are tenuous at first glance but the ties are tight Do the words we use determine how we approach the injury prevention puzzle Can changing how miners supervisors and managers speak change how they think and thereby how they will act Confession may be good for the soul but it is terrible for the ego Know at the beginning that I was a participant in no less than three failed efforts to develop and institute incident near miss reporting Truth be told no effort made enough headway to produce any positive results let alone anything that could remotely be called a success Old age delivered insight that came from the pungent odor of rat Misnamed near miss Near miss is the rat A miss is a miss by an inch or a mile When something bad doesnt happen it is natural to relax Speeding down the highway over the hill you see the enforcers parked car you slow down and ease past and the car does not pull out and flag you down Feels good doesnt it You are enjoying the Halo Effect You had a miss not a near miss On the other hand you did have a near hit And you even kept within the speed limit for at least the next three miles Relaxation not intensified attention follows a miss The relaxation and sigh of relief from a misnamed near miss makes miners supervisors and managers want to slink into the background Since injuries and property damage are bad things and leave evidence who in his or her right mind wants to create evidence where there is none A misnamed near miss immediately becomes a nonevent If nothing happened what is there to investigate and report A near hit on the other hand represents something that could have had costs A near hit is a warning The failure of non evidence events reporting programs hinge on the simple choice of a word A near miss means nothing A near hit is confrontational and should be dealt with MINERS SUPERVISORS AND MANAGERS CAN BE PERSUADED TO CHANGE WHEN THERE IS SOMETHING IN IT FOR THEM THEY WILL HAVE TO SEE SOMETHING POSITIVE COME BACK FROM THEIR EFFORTS IF NOTHING USEFUL COMES BACK FOR THEM THEY WILL MAKE LETHARGY LOOK LIKE AN ACTION WORD Productive alternative It is nearly impossible to get new ideas into peoples heads unless there is a good substitute ready at hand In this case there is a useful and productive alternative Introducing the replacement word hit is the first step Change will be difficult and time consuming In our local library system the powers that be determined that the big library downtown was henceforth to be called central and not the main branch For the employees it was clumsy and awkward for more than a year The employees adapted Take note A near miss means nothing A near hit is confrontational and should be dealt with The diehards retired and the new hires never knew the old expression Eight years later the employees say central The public still says the main branch Renaming a concept that has been in service for years especially one that has required no thought or action is difficult Inside the company it is somewhat easier if the will to make the change is there Near miss reporting starts with a natural inclination to do nothing Who wants to draw attention to failure Once the word that describes the situation has changed it will be possible to change the thinking and attitude toward the situation Action can follow with changed thinking It will take years to change the word from near miss to near hit Near miss reporting will continue to fail Nearhit reporting might work Miners supervisors and managers can be persuaded to change when there is something in it for them They will have to see something positive come back from their efforts If nothing useful comes back for them they will make lethargy look like an action word Near hit reporting can succeed The difference is a word y A word of difference BY CARL METZGAR Carl R Metzgar CSP has more than 30 years of safety and health experience in the aggregates industry He provides consulting services with a specialization in program evaluation training compliance and loss control and can be reached at 336 766 8264 cmetz46840@ aol com 32 PIT QUARRY August 2010 www pitandquarry com