Managing Safety After a Holiday Safety

Managing Safety After a Holiday

“People come back, they’ve taken their mind off the job, they’ve had a well-earned holiday and sometimes it takes them a little while to do the basics of making sure they’re working safe…..Recommissioning their equipment, starting at construction sites again, people may not have their minds on the job and they get hurt.”

4 SECONDS TO SAFETY

RESET…REFOCUS…ACT

When is your mind most likely to wonder?

Holiday is over and we are back to work. Are we 100% focused on what we are about to do? Was it a relaxing Holiday or one filled with stress? Whichever one, it’s not always easy to get it out of our minds.

Our work can have its own issues.  How often do we get frustrated when priorities change or when equipment is not operating as we expect it to?  The weather doesn’t always cooperate either. Now that we are headed into the summer season we can expect that there will be days when we need to deal with excessive heat and thoughts for a summer vacation.

As a result, our minds may not be 100% on the job.  We may feel fatigued if a personal issue is keeping us awake at night.  We may be thinking about how a job should be going instead of thinking in the present about what’s in front of us.  We may start to daydream as we mentally try to plan a weekend away.

We know the rules.  We know the procedures.  We have the skills and knowledge to work safely.  We know what the correct tools are for a job.  But, let’s face it; there are times when our head just is not in the game.  And losing focus is not a good thing.

But we all need to know when this is happening and then Reset, Refocus, and Act.

That’s what “4 Seconds to Safety” is all about.  It’s recognizing that we can lose our focus, acknowledging it when it happens, and then doing something about it.  When we catch ourselves with our head not in the game, we need to stop and take 4 Seconds to Safety.  In those 4 seconds clear your head, refocus, check your surroundings, and review the job.  Ask yourselves the following questions….

  • Am I putting myself or others at risk?
  • Am I prepared to continue to work safely?
  • Am I focused on what needs to get done?
  • Am I ready to act to do it safely?

Only proceed after you know with certainty that the job will get done safely.