Entropy. . .
the case for including your team in regular safety audits |
Entropy:
A concept in physics that describes how order in a closed system
breaks down over time
- There is a minor fire in the packaging
area, and a crew member dashes over to where the fire extinguisher
is stationed, only to find that it has been temporarily moved
to make room for some storage shelves that were installed last
week. Precious minutes are lost before the extinguisher is found
tucked behind the washroom door.
- You are mixing dry chemicals—a
once-a-month task that is handled by Pedro, an experienced operator.
The safety instructions specifically call for respiratory protection.
You
are startled to see that Pedro is not wearing a mask and is breathing
in the dust. "Oh, I never wear it," he says. "The
job
only takes a few minutes and I'm careful."
- You call another department in your
organization for urgently- needed safety information, only to
be told by the person who answers the phone, "That's not
my responsibility. You'll have to talk to Maria. She's away 'til
Monday."
Do these examples sound familiar? Do they bring others
to mind?
The point is, all sorts of corruptions can creep in to work processes
and safety practices over time. Team members misinterpret clearly-laid-out
procedures. They make their own assessments of the value of certain
steps based on what happens to the results, (like the 'never' used
fire extinguisher.) Or they decide to short-cut safety procedures
for something they consider “harmless” (Pedro’s
mixing of the dry chemicals). Or perhaps the worst sin
(like the person who referred you to Maria): someone forgets
that everyone shares responsibility for safety.
We expect machinery to break down. We don't always allow for work
procedures to break down. We are sometimes surprised when we discover
that important safety rules have been shelved.
But everything is subject to wear and tear, even including work
systems and safety rules. Like everything else, systems grow old
and decay. And systems that have been in place for years fail at
the critical moment.
Physicists sometimes call the phenomenon entropy, a concept borrowed
from the second law of thermodynamics. Highly organized systems,
they explain, inevitably begin to break down over time, and proceed
from order to a state of disorder and chaos, unless energy (work)
is brought to bear. Examples are everywhere. The orbits of planets
begin to decay. Very successful species eventually destroy their
habitats and begin to die out. Once vibrant companies and organizations
lose their direction and vitality, and begin to fail. Customers
become disenchanted with once-favored products. Equipment wears
out. Work areas become messy. Managers and team leaders tire of
hounding their associates for the same lapses, and gradually allow
tightly enforced safety rules to become corrupted.
In an ideal world, safety rules and safe working procedures are
developed and then observed consistently. Any change is made consciously,
and then only after thoughtful deliberation, because a process has
become redundant, or to make way for an improvement. But in the
real world, we all know that entropy is chipping away at the edges
night and day. Someone has to act as watchdog to monitor the damage
and act continually to put things right.
When team members all act as "watch dogs", entropy has
a tough time gaining a toehold! Here's how you can encourage everyone
on your team to help:
• Keep team members informed of
what is happening around them.
People are responsive when they see how their action or inaction
affects others. When team members are shown the results of their
actions, they are in a much better position to understand why one
method of working is safe and another is not. They begin to appreciate
the consequences of carelessly misinterpreting an ambiguous work
order, or of short-cutting a seemingly unimportant safety procedure.
• Involve your team in at least
some of the development of safe working procedures.
They will feel a sense of ownership of the system, and as proud
owners, they will want to make it work.
Questions to make
sure that everyone understands the safety rules, and safe work procedures.
Does your team have a system to check that team members, apparently
committed to working safely, don't harbor misconceptions about the
safety of some of their work habits? Is every team member confident
that he or she follows correct
safety procedures unfailingly?
Ask your team to help you measure
their compliance with safety rules.
"What gets measured gets done." If teams watch their own
behavior, and keep score on their team’s level of compliance,
they will have an incentive to watch out for each others' safety
lapses. In the safest work environment, everyone looks out for everyone
else.
And finally,
Ask your team to help you evaluate
the safety program.
Ask them to look out for hazards that may have been overlooked,
ask them if the work practices, engineered safety guards and personal
protective equipment in use protect everyone from hazards they encounter.
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