STOP...Collaborate and Listen....

For those of you who are younger than 25, this phrase might not mean a whole lot, but for those of us who were of teenage years in 1989, they meant a lot. Most guys would openly discredit the singer Vanilla Ice, but then get in their cars, do the side-to-side look to see if anyone was watching, and play "Ice Ice Baby" as loud as possible. Classic and genius.

Genius not only because of the marketing value of the song, genius not only because the original financing for this song was only $8000 and yielded an unbelievable percentage of return, but genius because of its application to everyday life...including workplace safety.

Excuse me? When did Vanilla Ice become an occupational health and safety guru? Well, he didn't. But the beginning of the song starts in a unique way....

STOP....Collaborate and listen...

In today's workplace, it's all about go go go, time is money, productivity is key, blah blah blah, etc, etc. In most places, the word STOP is absolutely foreign. If a production line has to stop for anything, you can see the manager mentally ticking away the potential products that are not being made multiplied by the amount they cost the company equaling the lost revenue. But what is not thought about is the time SAVED by stopping.

In the late 1970's, General Motors had a plant in Fremont, California that was a huge mess of inefficiency. The line did NOT stop...for ANYTHING!! They had repair teams at the end of the assembly line to fix all of the mistakes made in the plant, which were very many. The plant closed down, but reopened in 1984 in a joint venture with Toyota. Managers had gone to Japan to see how Toyota built quality cars efficiently. One of the major contrasts is the ability for any worker on the line to stop the process at any time for any reason. In the end, cars came out with a high standard of workmanship and did not need repairs.

The complete story is on This American Life here:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/403/nummi

Stopping has become a workplace normality in many industries where the consequences of mistakes are huge. Surgery wards are using the Time Out before procedures to ensure that the everything is correct, the doctor knows which limb or what procedures is taking place, anesthesia is properly in place, etc. We've all heard the stories of botched surgeries and with lawyers salivating at the prospect of deep pocket hospitals with obvious liability, there is no room for error. In the highly dangerous oil field, all workers are giving the authority and responsibility for calling a Time Out for Safety when anything is amiss. As most of you have heard of the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico, the consequences of a misstep can be catastrophic.

So just STOP! That is a huge first step. Overcoming the mindset that stopping will produce a loss is a major obstacle. However, taking that time shows employees that you take them seriously, their safety seriously, and they will usually respond in a positive way.

So what then? Collaborate....and listen.  Next time.

Thanks. Don't just work safe or play safe.....BE safe.