Cowboy Safety

What is Cowboy Safety?

Cowboy Safety is a common sense approach to safety that reduces injuries and other losses while enhancing profits and company image. It reinvents safety for the 21st century global economy.

Cowboy Safety does not dwell on industry statistics, average costs of a workers’ comp claim or on making and enforcing rules and regulations. It does not concentrate on high-cost reductionist safety management processes that often fail. Press reports of refinery fires, confined space incidents, train and bus crashes and many smaller incidents show that more often than not the obvious is not considered.

Cowboy Safety assumes limited resources yet a job that must be done. The nameless cowboy in Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter survives not just with his technical skills but by constantly anticipating what could happen and being prepared for it. Having a gun on his lap in the barber shop is more important than a stack of training cards. Cowboy Safety starts with real needs and attitudes rather than a safety video filmed in a studio.

 While anchored in the past Cowboy Safety is taken from a vision of how things could and should be. Sources may be anecdotal in origin but are scientific in practice. With history and fictional stories, a laboratory is created that is unaffected by the “noise” and familiarity of the present world.

As an example picture if you will three cowboys riding in a pickup truck. Which one is the real cowboy? The answer is the one in the middle. He does not have to drive and he does not have to get out of the truck to open and shut gates. He could be described as lazy and may be napping. In fact he is a pragmatist. There is a lower probability of an incident that would keep him from his real job. Many injuries and fatalities occur and much collateral damage is caused from driving when driving should not be done and working when working should not be done.

In a real incident near Lander Wyoming three men were injured in a head-on crash on a snowy day with low visibility. They observed all of the defensive driving techniques of slowing down, lights on, seatbelt usage, scanning and driving to the right. But why were they driving? They had gone back to the shop for more parts because they had not planned properly at the start of the day. There were costs other than the crash that involved their entire company and its mission. Cowboy Safety would have prevented this incident.

Cowboy Safety programs are customized and localized. The process is boiler plate but the deliverable is not. Each program is collaborative and is reconciled with the business and relevant environmental models. A dynamic safe experience involving social technology is designed that considers all stakeholders. The organization achieves sustainable and measurable improvements with dramatically reduced costs.

Apology for delay

I am sorry for not making any recent posts. I have five other blogs and I also have recently switched to a MAC. It has taken a while to get acclimated.

Much is happening in the small business safety arena as you no doubt know. 

I will be giving updates on all this. 

David Sneed

 

 

 

 

Does Quality No Longer Matter?

John Moore is the Denver Post Theater critic. He writes excellent articles and tells those of us not in the arts elite things that we are unable to see with our uneducated eyes. And of course he helps us chose what to attend.

Normally Moore gets a fairly small space in the Arts section. Today he gets most of the front page and all of page 10A. Why would he get that much space? He is writing about an acclaimed Broadway show, The Book of Mormon, that has 14 Tony nominations. But he has written about successful Broadway shows before. What is the difference today that he gets front page?

In the first paragraph he tells us that the two authors of "The Book of Mormon" are "two snickering goofballs who bonded more over breaking wind than breaking barriers in a 1992 University of Colorado film class." Then he tells us in the next paragraph that their first tv show was about an 8 year old boy getting an anal probe by aliens. In the third paragraph we find that in the most giddy song of their musical that the natives say "(Bleep) you God, in the (bleep), (bleep) and (bleep)!"

Is this where we are with "art" in our society?

I don't go to Shakespeare plays even though one of my brothers is the Producing Artistic Director of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. The quality is certainly there but I cannot understand the dialogue. I am certainly proud of my brother but I think he may get mad at me when I suggest that he might get more attendance if he starred a dumb blonde (the blond for the beauty) with a few DUI's and maybe a disorderly conduct or shoplifting conviction rather than a MFA honors student.

Plain and simple what is called "good" in the arts seems to be what is of "poor" quality. Hence the front page and page 10A in the Denver Post for "The Book of Mormon" but not for "Hamlet."

I use an arts example because today's customer wants experiences. And these experiences need not be of high quality. In fact poor quality may be more effective. Have a look at this real ad that was done for Cullman Liquidation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-RLqLx1iYI

Robert Lee does not lie to you about his products. He tells it like it is. In 60 seconds we can learn to like him and to trust him. He is able to target a niche of those who cannot afford luxury.

What is happening with quality is that the definition is not what it used to be. We are all deluged with products and services that meet the old definition of quality. The difference now is that quality must be defined in the customers' terms and not in the terms of an idealist.

Shakespeare is quality. But which performances are most attended? In Denver it is the day when the Denver Public Schools runs its Shakespeare Festival. Performances are crude but they are done with our children. And even on that day parents are hit with hundreds of other types of entertainment.

Old style quality is costly. In today's market everything is throwaway. The middle ground is to find out what meets the standards of the target market and go about 1% better. You will meet your break-even point and will achieve a sustainable future.

David Sneed

 

 

 

 

How to Make Wrong Risk Assessments

The New York Times, one of the best safety publications has done it again. They obtained 704 classified assessments done at Guantánamo and published a report on April 25, 2011. The report is a lesson in how not to do risk assessments.

There were detainees who were assessed as high risk who posed no risk. There were detainees assessed as low risk who were high risk. Often assessments were based on evidence with flawed deductive reasoning.

• The Casio F91W watch is cheap, reliable and popular. It is sold worldwide often for less than $11. It is simple to use and the batteries last 8 years or longer. Al Qaeda gave them out at a bomb-making class. Is possession of such a watch a clue to terrorist involvement? What is the probability that a wearer got it from Al Qaeda as opposed to many thousands of dealers?

  

• Does lack of travel documents mean training to discard them?

• Is a truthful claim to be a farmer or a cook automatically a cover story?

• Does cooperation with U.S. authorities mean a severing of terrorist ties or seeking of rewards from captors? Many assessments were based solely on information from other detainees motivated by rewards for information.

A Financial Times article on airplane security quoted the CEO of British Airways as saying that the pilot of the plane should not have the same security check as a Yemini student passenger.

Risk Assessment should start with assessment of the things that could go wrong.

I am stickler for getting purchase receipts especially for cash items. It is a simple low-cost precaution that can serve multiple purposes.

On one occasion in South Carolina I was driving a large van. We had stopped for gas and snacks at a convenience store off of I-95. There were four of us, the cashiers and restrooms all had lines and so we were parked at the pump for quite a while. As we were leaving the radio was on and the others were talking. I just happened to hear over their speakers that we had not paid for our gas. The owner of the van was one who never gets receipts. The only way we avoided double payment was that I knew that he usually paid in quarters from the vending machines at his private zoo. One of the clerks remembered the quarters. South Carolina law is rough on those who drive-off from pumps. Had I not heard the message on the speaker we would have easily been located by the Highway Patrol and had some big trouble. You can be sure no one would have remembered the quarters. No other defense would have worked except a receipt. I would have done time and lost my license to drive.

The risk is that with a cash purchase what happens if there is a claim of non-payment? It is general and could happen anywhere with any type of purchase and with any amount. While possibly not likely the consequences would be severe and the cost of taking a precaution is low.

The idea of Cowboy Safety is to be able to quickly and cheaply assess all risks, have a simple solution and devise ways to eliminate the risk. Training classes running 4 hours, a day, or a week or more are the least likely ways even to minimize risk consequences. The purpose of training is to meet certain requirements and as a defense when something goes wrong. Manuals are equally valueless. Checklists and simple habits often become the best manuals and training.

David Sneed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Hat No Cattle

"All Hat No Cattle" is an expression meaning someone who is talking but not doing. What is the cause of this phenomenon? How does it relate to safety and business performance?

For a clue I think of the Non-Sequitur Cartoon of October 1 2010. There is a night with his armor and his lance at the entrance of a cave inhabited by a dragon. The dragon has a convincing argument with a win-win solution. If the dragon slayer fails he will be dead. If he succeeds he will be out of a job. So the dragon proposes three simple words. "Dragon slaying research."

What has happened with safety is that it has become like "All Hat No Cattle." 

There is talk. There is purchase of products and training. There are voluminous safety plans. There are frequent safety meetings. There are reports and measurements. The Law of Diminishing Returns kicks in. Yet we constantly read of large companies having an incident. BP is the latest big example. BP spends incredible amounts of money for safety and has thousands of safety engineers. Why did they outsource their Gulf safety plan to a small company that produced a boiler plate safety plan that included protection for walruses, sea lions and polar bears? Did no one at BP read the plan? Did no one in the government read the plan? When BP or any other big company has an incident newspaper reporters in their first article while the fire is still burning have a concise and mostly correct answer for the safety failures. At the nuclear armaments fire in the UK recently one problem was that the security guards did not allow fire trucks onto the premises. No one had given them any exception instructions.

Because of the way safety is managed not only is safety not met but safety often becomes a hindrance to performance.

I remember a man coming in for a basic safety orientation class for a refinery. He was a supervisor with 25 years of experience. He had a pocket full of course completion cards. He wanted to be exempted from the class. He had to take the class to meet the refinery requirement. After taking the class I noticed that he barely passed the multiple choice exam. 

What is needed is to link safety efforts to the actual safety need. I'll give just one example.

Many firms have annual fire extinguisher training classes. There are five basic fire extinguisher classes. Without looking can you name them?

A for common combustibles like paper. B for flammable liquids. C for energized electrical equipment. D for combustible metals. K for cooking oils and fats. Successful completion of the course requires knowing these five types. The odds are that the only fire extinguisher in use at that site is a class C. What about hands on training? This is usually not done because it may be illegal to set a fire in the parking lot. And it may be viewed as too costly to recharge after use in a class. So a fire starts and the employee with the current training card may find that he cannot actually put out the fire. Have you ever used a fire extinguisher? Putting out a fire is not as easy as it may seem.

The photo shows Indians learning to brand calves with hands-on training. Why do we not want to include safety training as a hands-on part of job training? Why is safety an expensive academic activity? Why are safety plans so complex that employees cannot read them? All Hat No Cattle fits well with most safety programs.

The safety meaning of a broken pump

I went with my wife last weekend to get baked-stuffed lobster at Red Lobster. We left and went elsewhere because, guess what, no live lobsters. If you are a lobster lover you know that frozen lobster is not a good substitute.

I made an email comment on the Red Lobster website and received a prompt reply. It would be at least three more weeks before they would have live lobster at that location. The pump had gone out on their lobster tank. A decision was made to replace the tank. Now you may ask why this is a safety issue. 

A safety issue occurs when a known risk causes a problem. Being out of lobster at Red Lobster is a problem.

A research study in June 2010 by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co showed that 37% of 168 executives surveyed viewed that supply-chain/logistics disruption is a top risk.

Another word for a broken pump in a lobster tank at Red Lobster is supply-chain/logistics disruption.

Pumps will fail. Since the lobster tank pump is critical to Red Lobster's business why do they not have a solution that can be implemented immediately? Now I don't know if it was the actual pump or if it was the chiller. Both of these devices are electrically powered, have a water input and a water output. The skills required to replace either one are readily available anywhere. The parts exist and can be shipped overnight almost anywhere. For a company like Red Lobster that has many locations, someone should be keeping track of MTBF for lobster tank pumps and chillers. The safety plans should include what to do when, not if, there is a failure.

Every business has untold risks within just the subject of supply-chain/logistics disruption.

Too many companies are wasting their time defining safety activity as doing refresher courses on the various types of fire extinguishers when they only use one type. They ignore many other types of risks.

What do traffic lights and gas masks have in common?

Not many folks have ever heard of Garrett Augustus Morgan even though most of us frequently usually use the latest version of one of his inventions many times a day.

Garrett August Morgan, born March 24, 1877, the son of a slave invented and in 1923 patented the first intersection traffic signal that had the added feature that it could be manufactured cheaply. The Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit that featured three positions: Stop, Go and an all-directional stop position. This "third position" halted traffic in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross streets more safely. His hand-cranked semaphore traffic management device was in use throughout North America until all manual traffic signals were replaced by the automatic red, yellow, and green-light traffic signals currently used around the world.

Morgan never went beyond elementary school. He did later hire a tutor to work with him on English grammar. This is most interesting because Cowboy Safety and other versions of 21^st century safety depend heavily on the proper use of language.

On October 13, 1914 Morgan got a patent for his "safety helmet" as he called it. It was designed to filter out smoke and cool incoming air. The problem he addressed was that of firemen in Cleveland, where he lived at the time, being overcome by smoke. A test of his product came on July 24, 1916 when a tunnel explosion trapped 32 workers 200 feet underground. Rescuers went in and did not come out. Morgan and his brother went in and brought out many survivors.

Fire departments around the country purchased the device. Refined versions have had important roles in military combat. It was used by the U.S. Army in World War I to protect soldiers from chlorine gas fumes.

Morgan developed many other safety products. It was something that he felt compelled to do.

He was the founder of the Cleveland Call newspaper.

Morgan died on August 27, 1963.

 

Five Accident Causes

I was at a big box store in my town a few days ago. A forklift came into the building with a load of treated 4x4s. For the entire trip both outside and inside through the customer area the load was fully elevated. The load was high enough that the operator's vision forward was not blocked. He could look underneath. The operator then stopped, lowered the forks, got off the forklift, left the engine running, and went somewhere else.

I brought this matter to the attention of the warehouse manager. "This is his first day" was the defense. When I told him that the load was elevated he asked if it was bring driven forward. "We want them to drive backwards so that if they have to stop quick the load will not fall. The elevated load was not a concern. This manager also did not know about the matter of an unattended fork lift.

There was no incident with an injury or fatality. There was an injury to the company image in the sight of a customer.

In the CFR, forklift (powered industrial truck) training is itemized. In case common sense is not available the CFR clearly states "Prior to permitting an employee to operate a powered industrial truck (except for training purposes),…."

I often tell clients not to wait for a forklift class to come to town but to take the CFR outline and do their own program. At google type in "1910.178(l)" In the parentheses that is a lower case L.

With thanks to Brigadier General Anthony G Crutchfield of the Joint Center for Operational Analysis, Joint Forces Command in Suffolk Virginia there are five common words in safety investigators' write-ups. These five words are:

1. Untrained
2. Unsupervised
3. Undisciplined
4. Overconfident
5. Complacent

  Often all five words apply. Such is the case in the example above.

 

Code of the West

On February 18, 2010 the Wyoming legislature passed a bill adopting a state code as derived from the book, "Cowboy Ethics," by James P. Owen:

1 Live each day with courage

2 Take pride in your work

3 Always finish what you start

4 Do what has to be done

5 Be tough, but fair

6 When you make a promise, keep it

7 Ride for the brand

8 Talk less and say more

9 Remember that some things aren't for sale

10 Know where to draw the line

Some have been critical of this code. It is what Wyoming stands for. This new legislation puts it in code. The following is a video of the signing by Governor David Freudenthal (D)

http://vimeo.com/10462018

Cowboy Safety is an application of the Code of the West. It is an alternative to the expensive and bureaucratic compliance programs that produce no results. By building safety on the Code of the West safety becomes people-oriented and results focused.

 

 

Practical Emergency Care

Several years ago I took my youngest son to a camp out at a lake near Wheatland Wyoming . The occasion was a birthday party for one of his friends. The kids were having a good time with go-carts, little motorbikes and fireworks. As luck would have it the birthday boy got a big cut in his leg. He was screaming that he was going to die and to let him die. While his leg was cut to the bone there was almost no bleeding.

Here is where it became most interesting.

Most of the parents were employees of a large company that is strong on all aspects of safety. In short these folks had plenty of training in hazard analysis and what to do in an emergency. The only problem was they apparently did not think it applied outside of work. Even at work most of them had never seen anything really go wrong.

It seemed no one had a first aid kit. One mother had brought a box of band aids. That was nice but dressings should be larger than the wound.

No one knew the location of the nearest doctor or hospital. There was discussion of possibly driving to Cheyenne to the hospital.

The child was still screaming and wanted no one to touch him.

I calmly told the father how to get to the Platte County Hospital in Wheatland and suggested that he could just go alone with the boy. The hospital was at most 10 minutes away. He went and soon returned with his son's leg stitched, dressed and bandaged. He also had noted that the hospital seemed to have plenty of emergency room business from lake patrons.

We did do one thing wrong at the time of the incident. Generally a wound should be cleaned, dressed and bandaged. In this case, with the hospital close by, no bleeding and the child in a panic it seemed best to deal with it all at the hospital. I left my first aid kit in my truck.

Meanwhile the children continued to ride in the dark and fireworks were in use all over the camp. Fortunately no one else was injured.

The next day the birthday boy was in the water with his bandaged wound getting soaked. There were numerous sunburn injuries. There was much fun with a jet ski going round and round the swimmers.

 

 

 

 

Safety Mission Statements

Every company it seems has a mission statement. A mission statement is intended to be what the company is all about. Yet I find that most employees and executives cannot recite the mission statement of their own company.

I could be wrong but I think that most of them were written by low level clerks in the Human Resources department who had nothing else to do.

A mission statement should be something that can be viewed passionately. It should be a real action plan. Whenever a new issue comes up it should be run past the mission statement.

While he did not call it as such, the following can be viewed as the Mission Statement of William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army. Note that it is expressed in terms of the problems to be solved. It is short, specific and leaves room to cover other social ills by inference.

While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight; while little children go hungry, as they do now, I'll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight-I'll fight to the very end!

From: BOOTH THE BELOVED, by J Evan Smith (Oxford University Press, 1949), pages 123-124

Think of different issues that could arise. With this as a part of his whole being it became quite easy to stay focused.

A vast amount of money is spent in safety for things that have no real connection with the safety mission. By having a mission statement and then by constantly asking the question "How does this activity or expenditure achieve our safety mission.

Cowboy Safety includes a tool for developing the safety mission statement in a believable way.