Pride Comes Before The Fall…

Pride Comes Before The Fall…

This is the second (and hopefully last) in a personal series on slips trips and falls.

Many of you may remember a few years ago I sent out a Safety Focus on a slip and fall incident that happened to me that resulted in a broken left arm. I spoke about the importance of using the 3 questions of hazard recognition before performing a task:

    • What am I doing?,
    • What can go wrong? and
    • What am I going to do about it?

 

I also admitted my failure to use that tool while getting out of my vehicle immediately before the incident.

The second point I made was about pride, and how it can keep us from sharing embarrassing moments that could potentially be helpful for others.

Well, guess what?! While visiting the northeast last month, I was walking up to my hotel, slipped on an icy sidewalk, and broke my other arm! I was watching where I was stepping, because I knew there was a hazard, but I didn’t see or recognize the thin sheet of ice in my path.

How very embarrassing it is to write this, but if it can keep someone else from suffering the same fate, it’s worth the tarnished ego…again.

Many time incidents occur in private that we would rather keep to ourselves, but that doesn’t help others. Sharing these incidents through safety moments, in safety flashes, meetings, or simply talking about it with our friends helps get the message out.

The reality is, we all fall short from time to time, but when we do, we can share those experiences and help others and hopefully prevent the same from happening to them.

Continue to be vigilant and use the new B3WE tool to ask yourselves:

What am I doing? What can go wrong? What am I going to do about it?

Arms heal, and so does pride. Share your safety message. It could prevent injuries!

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About The Author

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David Troha has over 25 years of experience. David directs, develops, and oversees the general health, safety and environmental policies and procedures of Becht ensuring compliance with international and domestic governmental, and industry specific regulations. David joined the Becht team supporting the ExxonMobil Campus Project in the Woodlands, Texas, as a SSHE lead and data analyst. His experience includes the North American Growth (NAG) project and an Ethane Cracker Project at the Total Petrochemicals Refinery. Becht is a recognized leader in safety.

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Pride Comes Before The Fall…

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