DIGGING SAFELY
Beyond the Manufacturers’
Recommendations:
The Importance of Communication to a Culture of Safety
b y
M
y family has been in the construction
supply business for four generations.
The darkest day for me was when I learned that
an operator suffered a fatal injury using a demolition saw and a blade I sold to his company. He
died shortly after a pipe pinched on his blade
and the saw kicked back on him. I wondered
if I had done anything wrong. I worried that
perhaps the saw had malfunctioned. After all
the OSHA investigations, it turned out that I
had sold him the right blade for the job he was
doing and the saw was working properly. And
yet some questions haunted me: Why did it happen? And how could it have been prevented?
Since that time, I have been training operators
to safely run demolition saws. In the past two
years I’ve trained over 2,700 operators. This
means I am one of the most active safety trainers in the country for demolition saws. In the
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E s c h
process I have gathered plenty of information
about injuries—their causes, and how to prevent them. One of the surprising things I have
learned is that there is more to safety than simply doing what the manufacturer recommends.
You should always follow best practices and
manufacturer recommendations. But, whatever
tool you are using, following the safety guidelines is not enough anymore. No matter what
your role is, or what equipment is in your hands,
you need to take a conscientious and professional approach to the job when it comes to attention, distractions and communication.
This message was reinforced for me one day
while I was waiting to deliver a safety training
class in Minnesota. One of the company owners
got up and said, “Hey guys, we had too many
accidents last year. Injuries happen when we
are distracted or upset. Leave what is at home
at home. Stay focused on the job. In one instance a worker was yelled at and the guy got
upset about it. You have to put on your big boy
pants. If you yell at someone, apologize. Be mature about it.”
I cringed a bit when he said “big boy pants”, but I
also liked his directness and how he linked safety,
communication and maturity. What exactly did
he mean? I think he meant three things:
1)We are less safe when we are distracted
2)We tend to react when yelled at
3)Apologizing is related to safety
1. We are less safe when distracted
and safer when focused
This is so obvious I almost feel unsafe saying it. The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration reported that being distracted
or “lost in thought,” is far and away the leading cause of highway related fatalities at 62%.
To put this in context they listed cell phone use
– talking, listening, dialing, texting – as the second highest cause of driver distraction leading
to a fatal accident, at 12%.
What is the antidote to distraction? It is, in a phrase,
focused attention. Some call it mindfulness; others
call it presence. And I know those words may be a
bit touchy-feely for the excavation industry, but you
may hear more words like these as we figure out how
attention and safety are interrelated.
I have met many thousands of people who saw
concrete and asphalt. The ones who are most
intriguing to me are the ones who cut on the
highways. Those who go out at 3 a.m. on some
freeway to run a 66 diesel saw for 10 hours. Some
of them seem to have the focused attention of a
seasoned monk. They get up at 2 a.m. in the
morning. They work in silence, alone. They don’t
sleep much. They fast sometimes. They may pray
often, especially when working four feet from
traffic going 75 mph. They are able to safely do
mundane work with focused attention.
2.We tend to react when yelled at
Who does not feel like they are in kindergarten,
at least for a moment, when another person yells
at them? It is worse when it is your boss. Ignoring
the “right or wrong” of their behavior for a moment, they are yelling for a reason. If we think
they have overreacted, we get mad and react back.
It is a physiological and automatic response – the
fight-flight-freeze response. Extra blood gets sent
to our arms and legs, our hearts beat faster and
we take in more oxygen. Our brains have prepared us to fight or take flight. It is a basic survival skill. But the very mechanisms of survival
can compromise our safety in the present mo-
ment: we are less likely to think clearly or logically when we are in this state of mind and body.
What is the solution? First, manage reactivity.
Determine why someone is yelling and work to
ameliorate it. Make sure each worker takes responsibility for their part in the altercation. The
yeller’s job is to apologize, when the time is right;
if not for the message then at least for the delivery. The person being yelled at needs to determine
what they did that caused the reaction and, if in
the wrong, own it. Although not always easy, it
is possible and will likely lead to successful outcomes. For some companies this will be a major
cultural change and management support may be
necessary to make it happen.
3. Apologizing – and taking
responsibility for our behavior is related to safety
Communication a nd sa fet y a re related.
Although it might not have occurred to you
previously, a true apology can create safety as
it promotes taking responsibility for actions.
Responsibility creates accountability, which
is like vitamin C for the safety-immune-system. The better the communication is between
workers - the more skillfully they can identify
and isolate potential hazards - the safer everyone is on the job.
How do I know this? I watch the way people
treat each other at the places I train and I track
the reported injuries in the many organizations
where I have worked. Companies with poor or
negative communication styles invariably have
more recorded injuries. Companies with people
who communicate positively, apologize when
necessary and take responsibility for their behavior have fewer cases of injuries by improper
use of tools and/or poor choices.
We are safer when our attention is focused, when
we modulate our reactivity and when we are able to
take full responsibility for our behavior—even when
we have to work with someone who yells. ESG
Tom Esch is President of Esch Consulting,
LLC a business that improves safety and
productivity through communication and
awareness. He also works as a subcontractor for Esch Construction Supply, Inc and is
developing an innovative behavioral safety
approach for contractors.
For more d et ail s about hi s work you
may contact him via his website or
e m a i l : E s c hC on s u l t i ng.c om or Tom@
EschConsulting.com.
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