Near Misses

     We have all had “close calls” at work, the ones that make your heart race and seem to fire every neuron in your body. Afterwards after we’ve wiped the sweat from our brow we usually utter those famous words…..”That was close”. Hopefully we rethink the practice that has lead to this incident and correct our approach before we attempt it again. That’s usually about it. We may tell a close friend or two but it’s not something that we shout from the highest mountain. After all, our pride is on the line and we don’t want to look stupid in front of our peers. So that’s the end of it, we go back to our routine and no one is the wiser.

     The above scenario happens every day in the workplace but I would like to offer a new slant on this situation. Rather than remaining silent about your error why not take what is seen as a liability and turn it into an asset. By reporting our near miss and the correction that we employed to supervision we might just prevent a fellow worker from injuring themselves. Of course this requires the cooperation of management; they cannot punish the worker for coming forward. It’s a simple course of action that may have enormous implications with safety in our workplace.

THINK!