4 Seconds is all it Takes!
It seems that the best way to provide yourself and your family with a lifelong plan for a safe future is to be as smart a possible at work. This sounds basic, but it is so often overlooked. It truly is all about “TAKING 4 SECONDS.”
Just take four seconds before starting a new familiar task. Think of it as pressing a mental “reset” button. This simple act of refocusing has been shown to reduce the probability of an injury incident by more than 90%. How hard is that? You may have done the task you are about to perform thousands of times before. In your mind, you know that you could do it with your eyes closed. It is usually not the task itself but some small thing you did not anticipate that causes the incident.
1) You did not notice the debris on the floor where you are standing.
2) You did not notice the machine switch is too close to your leg.
3) You did not realize how heavy your finished product might be, and how far you have to carry it.
It is easy to imagine the different activities we do every day and how this applies. For example, getting in a forklift and having a quick look around. We change our thinking from where we are going to focusing on the area, warehouse conditions, other workers and vehicles. This is the “reset” we are talking about.
Believe it or not, four seconds is all it takes. Get in this habit of taking four seconds and you significantly reduce your chance of injury. If you get into the habit of taking chances or simply cruising from job to job, you will eventually be injured.
This four second reset was first instituted on CN Rail. This was part of a strategy to reduce the number of very serious incidents they were having including many amputation injuries. What they found was that their employee knew the rule or procedure to do the job without getting injured but were simply not focused. Even well rested employees were getting caught up in the routine of the day and found themselves daydreaming or thinking about other things. Losing an arm or leg is a very rude awakening.
Don’t let that be you. Take 4 seconds for yourself and your loved ones!