this is this show is brought to you by Safety FM. The following program is read for mature audiences and may contain adult language, adult situations and frank safety discussions. The names in certain details have been changed to protect the safe and unsafe. But believe me, every item and here is true. What is safety? We talk about safety all the time, but we don't actually ever define it with the lockdowns coming to an end. Sometime in 2021 we're left with the prospect of covid not totally ever going away. So here's the question. What is safety? What is safe? I always ask that question at the beginning of my training classes. The answer, usually from senior level managers, is no illnesses, no injuries, no incidents. That is safety. As the class goes along, we find out that their annual bonus is, at least in part based on how safe the facility is. So what ends up happening is the incentive is do not report any safety issues. How do we know that the safety issues are not being reported? That's because when they are reported, there is a problem with the way that they manage them, meaning they scream, yell, curse! You name it the and the employee is badger not to report safety issues when there is a major incident and you're part of the investigation during the interview process, there is always the comment. Everyone knew about this issue. It was reported to my manager and was never followed up. So now the questions eventually lead to this in the comments, right? If someone makes a mistake and gets hurt, or if you have a mishap, do you now have an unsafe facility? How about if you're doing great all year, and then the last two weeks of the year? There is an incident. Now you have an unsafe facility, and everything you've done for the whole year is canceled out. I'd love to know who would love to work in workplace like that. There's one facility in New Jersey that actually shut down all operations in the month of December 1 year because there is a serious near miss, not an incident, not a loss, but an actual true near miss the last week of November. It's a really uncomfortable question, and I use it more as a rhetorical gimmick than anything So we review a common activity at the facility, and I asked the class to list all the safeguards, procedures, everything that goes into that safety wise. So there are all these safeguards and you still have accents. Why are you an unsafe facility? Are you bad people? How about we talk about human error and the expected error rates for the activity you're going into? What motive? Behavior are you in? What mode of work are you in? Rather than blaming the worker, let's try to add controls. Procedures that are actually going to be followed identify other issues I might be going on. This is more in line with my definition and human organizational performances definition that the safety is the presence of controls, not the absence of accidents. How does this apply to our current situation with Covid, we have all these controls in place for mass social distancing vaccines, and everything else is adding control is going to make us safer, or are we still gonna stay locked down in our communities until we reach the theoretical zero? I asked this question because it should be what the public authorities should be asked, and the kinds of questions. We should be asking them what is safe. What's your definition is safe. Does it actually line up with reality? And is it reasonable for safety wars? This is Jim proposal. The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the host and its guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the company. Examples of analysis discussed within this podcast are only examples. It should not be utilized in the real world as the only solution available, as they are based only on very limited in dated open source information. Assumptions made within this analysis are not reflective of the position of the company. No part of this podcast may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the creator of the podcast, Jay Allen. Mhm