Consider this statistic: 8 out of every 10 accidents are the fault of the person involved in the incident. AND unsafe acts cause 4 times as many accidents and injuries as unsafe conditions.
Consider some of the underlying accident causes described. Have you been guilty of any of these attitudes or behaviours? If so, you may have not been injured…but next time you may not be so lucky.
- Taking Shortcuts: Every day we make decisions we hope will make the job faster and more efficient. Short cuts that reduce your safety on the job are not shortcuts but an increased chance for injury.
- Being Over-Confident: Confidence is a good thing. Overconfidence is too much of a good thing. "It'll never happen to me" is an attitude that can lead to improper procedures, tools, or methods in your work. Any of these can lead to an injury.
- Starting a Task with Incomplete Instructions: To do the job safely and right the first time you need complete information. You never send a worker to do a job, having been given only a part of the job's instructions? Ask for an explanation about work procedures. It isn’t dumb to ask questions; it's dumb not to.
- Poor Housekeeping: When clients, managers or safety professionals walk through your work site, housekeeping is an accurate indicator of everyone's attitude about quality, production and safety. Poor housekeeping creates hazards of all types. Good housekeeping involves both pride and safety.
- Ignoring Safety Procedures: Purposely failing to observe safety procedures can endanger you and your co-workers. You are being paid to follow the company safety policies-not to make your own rules.
- Mental Distractions from Work: Having a bad day at home and worrying about it at work is a hazardous combination. Dropping your 'mental' guard can pull your focus away from safe work procedures. Don't become a statistic because you took your eyes off the machine "just for a minute."
- Failure to Pre-Plan the Work: JSA’s, JHA's are an effective way to figure out the smartest ways to work safely and effectively. Being hasty in starting a task, or not thinking through the process can put you in harms way. Plan Your Work and then Work Your Plan.
"It is better to be careful 100 times than to get killed once." Mark Twain