Proper work flow leads to better safety

Contributed by Norm Nyhuis, Trainer, Evergreen Safety Council

There’s an old joke about two workers along the side of the road. The first was digging a series of holes with a shovel, and following behind him, another worker was filling in the holes. When asked what they were doing, one worker explained that usually there were three on crew, and their job was to plant trees along the road side. However on this day, the second person in the crew, the one who actually placed the trees in the holes, was off on sick-leave. “Just ‘cause George isn’t here today, that don’t mean we can’t do our jobs!”

Yes it’s a corny story, but how many times do we go ahead with a task, taking an obvious risk, because the preliminary work is not completed, and perhaps put ourselves or others at risk when we do so? The following photo is a case in point.

Apparently, the road bed preparation, of this road widening project was finished and the paving crew was ready to go, and the paint-stripping crew wanted to take advantage of the sunny weather to get the lane marking completed, too . . . . . but the utilities company hadn’t yet gotten a crew out to relocate the pole. At least the hazard is marked with barrels, but barrels often get “bumped” out of the way, leaving this all too solid and unmoving utility pole in harm’s way.

Before you start a task, take a moment to list the others who may be affected by your work. Is someone else being put at risk, if you were to go out-of-sequence or skip a step in the process?

Following the proper work flow sequence is a major component of several of Evergreen Safety Council’s series of courses comprising our Safety & Health Specialist certification. If you have an interest in supporting safe work practices for your company, and want to have a better understanding of the spectrum of safety concepts of which you should be aware, contact us or check our the Safety & Health Specialist option on our website.