Last month, a calamitous home workout ended in a 10kg weight plate plummeting, slap bang, onto my index finger. Said finger was instantly fractured, dislocated and left looking like an upside down letter L. The flawless 90° tilt at least gave my bewildered brain a helpful pointer as to the direction of the nearest hospital.
Yes, it smarted a little. But the pain won’t have been in vain if you can use my stupidity as impetus for fighting the threat of autopilot, or unconscious competence, on your shopfloor.
For my task was a routine one, concentration levels minimal. Lift a weight up, lower it back down. Safety is a distant thought when you’ve been doing something man and boy without a scratch. Limbs seemed to autonomously assume the raised press up position with an unsecured weight plate placed on the back for a little extra challenge. What could go wrong?
Around the same time, 600miles away, another accident was brewing. Jodie Cormack, a contract worker, climbed onto a conveyor belt to clear potatoes at Baxters Food Group’s soup making factory at Fochabers.
Operators regularly accessed the belt to move the last few vegetables of the batch over the edge and into the auger beneath, a Sheriff Court later heard. The task was a routine one, safety secondary – because nobody ever got hurt.
Until that day, when Jodie slipped and fell back into the auger. A machine used to grinding potatoes now carved its way through flesh and bone.
Two accidents in two different environments, resulting in two injuries at opposite ends of the severity scale. But triggered by one overriding evil: autopilot.
Don’t be next. Shun the shopfloor status quo and risk assess with renewed purpose. Ensure your team has minds on the task at all times and actively assesses activity against the overriding goal of sending everyone home safe. And if you’re in the London area then please come and help this accident prone editor safety proof his shed.
