Sunday, April 28, 2024
Here is your weekly safety meeting preview for next week. This is just a preview so that you know what is in the weekly safety meeting in case you were not able to attend the weekly safety meeting with one of your crews. The actual weekly safety meeting is iAuditor. If you missed any of the previous topics in this series, they are also on the Leadership Ideas page of elightinformation.com
Each week we have been discussing Human Performance and J Rasmussen's human performance modes. This week we continue exploring each of the modes. We need to remember that all of us operate in each mode at different times depending on the circumstance, the work to be done and other factors. What is important to remember is that we need to learn to understand when specific modes are going to be more prevalent and make changes to our approach to help eliminate error. Last week we discussed Knowledge Based Human Performance Mode. This week will talk about the next mode and summarize the series.
Skill-Based Human Performance Mode:
A person is in skill-based mode when executing a task that involves practiced actions in a very familiar and common situation. When we are doing something we have done many, many times. This is that mode we get into when we just perform without thinking. We have done these types of tasks so many times they just done require thought. Some good examples of these on an extreme side are signing our signature or tying our shoes. We just do it without thought. Sometimes we do dangerous things the same way though. Have you ever been driving home and meant to stop somewhere and completely forgot until you were almost home. You simply made the turns and followed the path you always do without a lot of thought and before you knew it, you were there and had forgot to stop. We can also do this with our work items, for example: Take out a power tool and just use it without inspecting it, test a circuit quickly with our multimeter, without taking steps to do it safely.Skill-Based Human Performance Mode Errors.The relatively low demand on attentional resources required when an individual is in skill-based human performance mode can create the following errors:
(1) Inattention: Skill-based performance mode errors are primarily execution errors because we just act without thinking about what could go wrong and taking steps to correct it. We also act without conscious thought sometimes and just do it while thinking about something completely unrelated.
(2) Perceived reduction in risk: As familiarity with a task increases, the individual’s perception of the associated risk is less likely to match actual risk. A perceived reduction in risk can create “inattentional blindness” and insensitivity to the presence of hazards.
The important thing to keep in mind every time we are getting ready to do a task is to ask ourselves three things:
1. Have I done this so many times, I no longer think about it before I do it? If yes, take a moment and think it and refocus on the task and avoid the errors. [Skill Based]
2. Is this something I have never encountered before? If yes, do I have the understanding of how it works so that I can determine the hazards and avoid them, or do I need to reach out to someone that has encountered it and get advice before I continue? [Knowledge Based]
3. Is this something that we have a procedure and policy for and am I following that procedure and policy to help [ keep myself safe and others? [Rule Based]
Different circumstances and different variables cause us all to operate in all the human performance modes. Understanding them and the errors the tend to happen when operating them and learning to recognize when we are in those situations can help us all perform more safely and keep ourselves safe and those around us.
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