Safety 101

[joe greiner]

Probably re-plowing old ground, but an update won't hurt.

Accidents often occur when we lose concentration on repetitive tasks. When performing such tasks, an occasional break to review the processes may help to avoid a mishap. This article explains why: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=...dless-mistakes

(Ignore "get the rest of this article now" - that's the entire article. I suppose that longer articles would enable a link cursor.)

According to my interpretation, a brief review resets our brain's components so that all of them are again singing from the same page; or for a different metaphor, synchronizing their watches.

Stop and think. Stay safe.

Joe

[Claw Hama]

Very true from some of the things I have seen over the years to Joe. Repedative tasks or tasks we think are simple lul us into that false sense of security and as you artical says part of the brain just goes to sleep and CHOP!!*#)

I once heard many car accidents happen within 500m of home, similar thing I expect people relax thinking they are home. Oops.

[RETIRED]

'Tis true.

We used to have a large contract making spools out of plywood for winding wire on to.

We never had an injury but the quality used to start slipping after a while through inattention and the parts couldn't be used.

The answer was quite simple: Break every hour for a cuppa and change tasks on the operators.

Production went up and mistakes didn't occur..

[jimbur]

Repetition is a real problem. A chippy in the shop had the simplest of jobs - putting wooden frames round metal windows. the frames were already made up, he just had to drill holes and screw them together.
Eventually he was so sure of what he was doing that he drilled straight through his finger! And this was a bloke in his early fifties.
Only did it once while I was there.

[weisyboy]

I once heard many car accidents happen within 500m of home, similar thing I expect people relax thinking they are home. Oops.

just like 95% of household accidents happen in the home.

[rrich]

just like 95% of household accidents happen in the home.

And the remaining 5% happen in the back seat of the car.