ZERO! - How to Overcome Natural Human Scepticism

[Jack Kane]

I received the following in a newsletter I subscribe to and thought it was a great outlook to what we do.

The credit for the article goes to Bill Robb, PhD, DEd of www.safetybriefing.com

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ZERO! HOW TO OVERCOME NATURAL HUMAN SCEPTICISM

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There is no doubt or question. All organisations, all managers and all
employees want zero accidents. However, there is something deep down
that makes us humans think - but that's not possible - we are human not
robots - humans will have accidents. These thoughts come out in
statements such as "that's just not realistic", "it's unhelpful to aim
for a goal we'll never achieve", "that's academic, not real life",
"wishful thinking and so on.

Of course if people don't believe that ZERO is possible, it will hinder
safe working because they feel insulted - "how can management try and
pull that one - they must think we're stupid".
Also, they may lose respect for anyone who promotes ZERO and in some
people they may not try so hard - because they think accidents are
inevitable. So here is how I show people that ZERO is possible.

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Proof That ZERO is Possible
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In a workshop setting I ask people: "Has anyone today had an accident?"
In 99.9% of cases the answer is "NO!" I then say, "Well that's zero for
this group today".
Then I ask, "has anyone here had an accident this week?" Again in 99.9%
of cases the answer is "no!". Then I say, "Well, for this group that's
zero for one whole week".

You'll quickly recognise that you can continute this questioning for a
month, for this installation, for this site. Some rigs and platforms
and land-based sites have one, two, three years without an accident.
That's ZERO for a whole year.

At the end of this people's eyes light up - the penny has dropped. ZERO
IS POSSIBLE - the problem facing all of us is how long we stay there!!

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This revelation puts safety into perspective?
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1. The struggle for most of us both as individuals and organisations is
doing all we can to stay at ZERO for as long as possible. In the next
20 years will Bill Robb hurt himself by doing something silly -
probably. But being human (imperfect) is not an excuse for not striving
for ZERO. We just have to stop beating ourselves up if it happens.

2. Some people say, okay let's aim for ZERO fatalities and ZERO "3-day
away from work" cases, but it's unrealistic to aim for zero restricted
work and first aid cases. Well we can loop back to the questions asked
earlier to show it is realistic, although the probability of long term
zero is even less with those. The triuck is not to blow first aid cases
out of proportion.

3. When people claim it's unfair to set goals that can never be totally
(once and for all) achieved, here's how I respond. Our very existence as
being humans puts us in tension. We know we will never get full answers
to the meaning of life (why am I here?) but we are driven to keep on
seeking. That's it, that's human life and we get on with it and enjoy it
(most of the time.
So, even knowing that we won't stay at ZERO for 20 years, we struggle
on in the hope that we will.
What else is there to do?

[Keith1983]

I really like that. I guess it's simple when you think about it but the approach taken by that gentlemen is great. I suppose it's a similar approach to those who can make one set of statistics look positive or negative, but taking the positive viewpoint for a change!

[anthonyg]

I recently trained on a site( with 40 personel) that had almost 3 years of Zero accidents, then 1 day a half cut half brained contractor fell off a ladder and injured himself
The HSE officer was Gutted and also to my surprise a great deal of the workforce aswell!!!
The Management were furious and it was almost as if this contractor had taken away 3 years of profits
But after reading Jacks Post - I suppose he did!!!

[ChrisD]

Not entirely convinced to be honest.

As already mentioned to Jack - the problem with these schemes is that you `may` make people wary of reporting even the slightest of accidents in fear of reprisals from either collegues OR management. So what happens, is that people simply do not bother to report things, which then will look good on paper when analysing `accident reporting` stats, but it could cover up a whole raft of real problems within the workplace.

If this happens then you lose all control over accident reporting which in turn can lead to bigger issues down the line. Ie, a minor accident now could result in the death of someone at a later stage. May sound a little dramatic but Im only giving an example.

Also, and I know it was touched upon in the original posting - there are many human elements to consider. Lone workers, young workers, workers suffering from stress either from home or work, disabled people, people who use drugs or drink excessively, people who become complacent at their work stations, workers who think they know better,,,,,,,, I think you get the picture. Far too many variables to take into consideration if you ask me.

Zero accidents in a workplace sounds good but can it really be done successfully, honestly and reliably?

I suppose ANYTHING in life is possible, but the reality is that human beings have and will always be a threat to society in many walks of life. From the simplest of mistakes to starting wars - no one is perfect and that is why, in this example, accidents will be a part of our working lives - unfortunately.

[Ashanti]

I agree with your scepticism Chris. Some of the activities we are involved in are inherently risky but as long as I can minimise any associated risks it is the best I can do unless I try to have them stopped altogether. I would be going against HSE policy doing that so I have to accept that the risk will be minimal but never zero.