Last month I introduced you to Scott A. Snook’s term practical drift, which he coined in his root cause analysis of the accidental shoot down of two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters resulting in the loss of 26 peacekeepers.
The first-shift guys tell you they work together as a team. They are the best shift in every way. And they always clean up and set up for second shift.
Colonel Scott A. Snook, Ph.D., in Friendly Fire1 introduced the term practical drift. The theory of practical drift emerged from Snook’s root cause analysis of a 1994 friendly fire accident in which two U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagle fighter jets patrolling the No-Fly-Zone over northern Iraq shot down two U.S. Army Black Hawk UH-60 helicopters. Twenty-six peacekeepers lost their lives.
When folks are brought together around some common task or set of tasks, their earliest experiences “set the tone” for the team. When team members develop the positive attitude that they can succeed, they are more likely to do so.
Within the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) unstable explosives require the highest codification prevention precautionary statement P201 — “Obtain special instructions before use.”
Too often safety and health professionals work under the illusion that the advice they provide to someone is “helpful.” If only giving “help” were so easy.
The safety world has devoted significant attention and conversation to the “safety culture” of organizations. How often have you heard, “If we could just change the culture around here, safety performance would improve.”
We do a fine job researching, investigating, uncovering root causes and lamenting work-related disasters. The government often forms commissions (think Deepwater Horizon or the NASA shuttle explosions or the BP Texas City refinery).
Recent riots in North Africa and the Middle East are and will continue to have a harmful impact on the private and public sectors in the United States. Egypt’s collapse has become the “Tipping Point” of a systemic contagion growing throughout North Africa and the Middle East, the likes of which we have not witnessed since World War II.