Africa Business Communities

Harriman Oyofo: We’ve Never Had an Accident Yet

Sure, but isn’t that what they all say? Can it be that you’re immune or that your competitors are plain unlucky; or maybe someone up there is unhappy with them, right? Rubbish, if you believe that then you’ll believe anything. It helps to note that there are no accidents except those that are caused - by us! Accidents are as a result of what we do or fail to do when we should have. Anything else is just pure waste of precious time. And looking for who’s to blame amounts more time wasting. In all situations, avoidable failures leading to that single, major cataclysmal event with massive consequences for all concerned ring loud and clear but somehow, we often fail to notice. That’s how come we can sometimes fall into that blind spot of false sense of security leading to such smug declarations as “We’ve Never Had an Accident Yet”.

Well, good for you because while you are beaming from ear to ear telling yourself that you’ve never had an accident yet, just remember that there is a chance that your first accident maybe the last in terms of consequences to the business in people, asset and the environment. History is replete with businesses which were totally wiped out for good following long spells of ‘we have never had an accident yet’ by that single, very rare occurrence; which generally goes to underline the fact that the absence of injuries may not necessarily denote the presence of safety. In fact, the reverse may well be the case because before that one ‘big bang event’ there is usually a series of minor, insignificant occurrences on the shop floor which attract no more than a dismissive wave of the hand from the supervisor and foreman because they count for ‘nothing’ whereas that nothing costs money after all said and done. Better still it is a huge signpost of clear and present danger ahead.

So check it out for real and come back down to earth. Reexamine your methods, tools and techniques to be sure you haven’t missed out on a single clue or pointers. Check out quality and strain of your staff training, communication, knowledge-flow, respect for people and daily connection with everyone, do they fit? Most employers deploy new staff with little or no training, induction or orientation irrespective of residual skills and expect incident-free operations. This is probably asking too much of the system and people because safe operations take serious effort in planning and execution, not chance.

That you haven’t HAD AN ACCIDENT YET doesn’t equate to the fact that you won’t have one in the nearest future with crippling consequences for all concerned, so no point getting used to the idea and feeling chuffed and comfortable. Like they say, nothing stays the same forever or too long, and so it is with SAFE OPERATIONS. Expend the necessary effort prior or be prepared to expend a lot of sweat, thousands of dollars and baskets of goodwill after the fact of that rare accident that you haven’t had.

Harriman Oyofo is CEO, Mann Associates Ltd., Nigeria. 

 

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