It Is Important to Learn from Our Mistakes

I am proud to announce that next week is the beginning of the new school year this year we will be having the wireman apprenticeship, lineman apprenticeship and the solar tech apprenticeship. It is an exciting time and we are excited to be kicking of three separate apprentice programs at the same time. I want to thank my staff, Alan Raney, Jenn Smith, Mitch Cleaver and Keith Lang for all their hard work and excellent work product to get us to the this point for this launch.   As a result of school starting and teaching I will be changing my office hours to Mon- Thurs  10 am to 2 pm. I will be available by cell phone other times but in the afternoons and evenings until 9 pm I will be teach class and mostly unreachable.   Starting Monday Sept. 8 please change your process so that the first call for any Accident, Incident, Near Miss including motor vehicle accidents is to call Keith Lang at 720-948-7482.

Anytime we have an accident, incident or near miss it is important that we all learn from it so that we can avoid them in the future. My grandfather had a saying that has stuck with me all my life..." An idiot never learns from his mistakes, A smart man learns from his mistakes but a wise man learns from other peoples mistakes."   We have had two recent accidents that I want to review.

Before we do that though I want to clear up the confusion surrounding Accidents, Incidents and Near Misses.

The terminology is important to understand.  

Accident: An event in which a person was injured regardless of the severity. 

 Incident: An event in which property is damaged, but no one is injured.  

Near Miss: An event where something happened that could have caused property damage or injury but we were lucky and neither occurred this time.  Near misses are important to report and track also. We can learn from them as well and perhaps prevent it in the future when we may not be lucky if it happens again.    

Now let's look at the accidents we had these past couple weeks: 

Accident Number 1:  An employee measured the holes for hanging a 12 x16 box with a control transformer in it. The assembly weighed approximately 30 pounds. He then sat the box down on the edge of a 55 gallon drum that was next to him and a convenient place to put the box. He also set the box down in the upright position and not in the center of the drum lid. He then drilled the holes and sat his screw gun behind the box on the same drum. When he did this it bumped the box causing it to fall and it landed on the top part of his foot, fracturing the bone in his foot. This installation was the last installation of a Saturday shutdown shift. There was no rush but we all often tend to rush a little when the end is in site and we want to get home. A little more time, laying the box flat and in the center of the drum and no accident, no pain, surgery, no recovery time.  Let's all remember that very often it is the little things that get us. An apprentice was helping and observing and didn't notice how the box was set and didn't say anything. Watch what is happening and what your fellow workers are doing and if see something, even little, say something. The result of this accident, a recordable accident, a lot of pain for the employee that will last awhile, a surgery to reset the bone and recovery time on light duty. Things that none of want to endure.  

Accident Number 2: We had an employee working on wire management on a solar field. The installation plan and practice for the task was to get help lifting the wires into the hangars as they began wire management. The employee's partner used the latrine and while they were gone the employee decided to see if they could lift the wire bundle into place by themselves and did so a couple of times. When their partner returned, the employee was suffering back pain and safety was called to the scene. The employee did have a pre-existing condition which caused them back pain when strained. The employee was seen at the WC clinic and fortunately no serious damage was done, and the employee was given some treatment for lumbar support and ice packs. This time they were lucky. It is commendable that the employee had the confidence and motivation to try and lift the heavy wire overhead into its holder by themselves. This is a classic case of overconfidence. The installation plan and the process used by the crews was for two people to lift the wires to prevent injury and strains.

It is important that we always follow the written installation plans. That means that we don't do work unless we have one. If you are asked to do work without one, use your stop work authority and politely ask for one. Then it is important to read it and make sure you understand it and if you have questions about, ask before you start. Then after you have been doing it for a while, don't get complacent or overconfident and stick to the process, and avoid the pain, Thank you.

Please be sure to share your near misses and report your incidents and accidents. Also remember, if you see someone doing things right and being safe and helping keep their fellow workers safe, let us know about them. Give them credit for doing it right. Use the QR code on the back of your badge to report a safety commendation.  It is good to be recognized for doing things right, so please recognize them.