Quietly, and without warning...
from the darkness......
comes a masked, Hi-Vis warrior, conducting his lone vigilante quest to remove the world of yellow lines...
Bright yellow paint is of course the prisoner's dilemma of workshop layout. In each individual case, painting something bright yellow makes it safer. But as more and more things become bright yellow, they stand out less and less. And those things that are truly dangerous blend into the background in a way that is more difficult to see than it they were all their original colour. However, proposing to make something grey or black is evaluated on an individual basis, and obviously that grey step, or guard-rail, will be more dangerous (ignoring the overall visual environment) and so yellow it must remain.
There is also a separate political / employment payoff matrix that unfortunately clouds the issue. Any change that implicitly improves safety, while introducing an explicit (but much lower probability) risk cannot possibly be put in. In this example, if you put in something that is not Hi-vis, and something happens - it is obvious that the lack of the hi-vis was not just "A" cause... but it becomes "THE" cause.
Two real life examples that might or might not have happened in a theoretical company on an imaginary site that I may or may not have hypothetically worked at...
1) a knee jerk reaction to a couple of stitches where a cutting implement was modified into un-usability (3 stitches after literally MILLIONS of operations) . It resulted in increasing the risk during the use of it, and encouraging people to find non approved methods to do the tasks that could no longer completed. BUT - if you are the person who reverts - and someone else get a cut - you are crucified.
2) Steel capped shoes in an environment that does not need them. People standing 100% of the time. Wearing heavy uncomfortable boots incase some non-existant thing is dropped on their foot..... causing back, knee and foot issues... but these are relatively invisible (and over time, almost certain). Where as the incredibly unlikely event of dropping something and breaking a toe is definitive. The person who for the safety and comfort of all removed the shoes... would be terminated immediately.
You are about to get me started on a Rant.... and I have declared October a Rant-Free-Month!!
Which is why OHS... make that WHS officers must be shot on sight. If you could see them. But their fluoro yellow clothing is invisible against the fluoro yellow background that all workplaces have become...
And how many millions of dollars have been spent changing all the OHS to WHS? Someone thought this would make it safer?
In my experience that has not been the case... generally the OHS / WHS / SHE / HSE / SS (sustainability and safety) people are trying to do the best they can.... The people who have issues are those you can spot easily in a sea of hi-vis... they are those from far above who believe that people are actively trying to hurt themselves ("There is nothing more I can do - I gave a company wide email telling people to take care, and that safety is our number 1 priority - but they just won't listen")
They have generally achieved an existence on a plane where they firmly believe that their declarations manifest reality.
The WHS people (and the plant managers etc who get abused if there is an issue) are stuck with an amusing cognitive dissonance between what they have to say is right and what they know is real.
So if there is any shooting to do... aim for the hi-vis vest over the expensive suit....
NOTE: this discussion is based on hypothetical situations and is for entertainment purposes only. Do not consume before first seeking medical advice.
Reviving an old thread to bitch about the requirement to wear hearing protection because of the incessant beeping alarms that are mandatory to fit to mobile lifting platforms.
Has anyone ever studied the improved situational awareness one gains by adding 5 high volume beeping sources, and then a set of earplugs to block out the beeping?
Bright yellow paint is of course the prisoner's dilemma of workshop layout.
ReplyDeleteIn each individual case, painting something bright yellow makes it safer.
But as more and more things become bright yellow, they stand out less and less. And those things that are truly dangerous blend into the background in a way that is more difficult to see than it they were all their original colour.
However, proposing to make something grey or black is evaluated on an individual basis, and obviously that grey step, or guard-rail, will be more dangerous (ignoring the overall visual environment) and so yellow it must remain.
What you say has strong truth!!
ReplyDeleteThere is also a separate political / employment payoff matrix that unfortunately clouds the issue.
Any change that implicitly improves safety, while introducing an explicit (but much lower probability) risk cannot possibly be put in.
In this example, if you put in something that is not Hi-vis, and something happens - it is obvious that the lack of the hi-vis was not just "A" cause... but it becomes "THE" cause.
Two real life examples that might or might not have happened in a theoretical company on an imaginary site that I may or may not have hypothetically worked at...
1) a knee jerk reaction to a couple of stitches where a cutting implement was modified into un-usability (3 stitches after literally MILLIONS of operations) . It resulted in increasing the risk during the use of it, and encouraging people to find non approved methods to do the tasks that could no longer completed. BUT - if you are the person who reverts - and someone else get a cut - you are crucified.
2) Steel capped shoes in an environment that does not need them. People standing 100% of the time. Wearing heavy uncomfortable boots incase some non-existant thing is dropped on their foot..... causing back, knee and foot issues... but these are relatively invisible (and over time, almost certain). Where as the incredibly unlikely event of dropping something and breaking a toe is definitive. The person who for the safety and comfort of all removed the shoes... would be terminated immediately.
You are about to get me started on a Rant.... and I have declared October a Rant-Free-Month!!
Which is why OHS... make that WHS officers must be shot on sight. If you could see them. But their fluoro yellow clothing is invisible against the fluoro yellow background that all workplaces have become...
ReplyDeleteAnd how many millions of dollars have been spent changing all the OHS to WHS? Someone thought this would make it safer?
In my experience that has not been the case... generally the OHS / WHS / SHE / HSE / SS (sustainability and safety) people are trying to do the best they can....
ReplyDeleteThe people who have issues are those you can spot easily in a sea of hi-vis... they are those from far above who believe that people are actively trying to hurt themselves ("There is nothing more I can do - I gave a company wide email telling people to take care, and that safety is our number 1 priority - but they just won't listen")
They have generally achieved an existence on a plane where they firmly believe that their declarations manifest reality.
The WHS people (and the plant managers etc who get abused if there is an issue) are stuck with an amusing cognitive dissonance between what they have to say is right and what they know is real.
So if there is any shooting to do... aim for the hi-vis vest over the expensive suit....
NOTE: this discussion is based on hypothetical situations and is for entertainment purposes only. Do not consume before first seeking medical advice.
Reviving an old thread to bitch about the requirement to wear hearing protection because of the incessant beeping alarms that are mandatory to fit to mobile lifting platforms.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone ever studied the improved situational awareness one gains by adding 5 high volume beeping sources, and then a set of earplugs to block out the beeping?
BTW: I'm told there are light[er], cushion sole, more comfortable, steel capped work shoes available.
ReplyDelete