At the core of our safety programs is the ability to effectively and correctly identify hazards before an incident occurs and long before their potential to do anyone harm is realized. And although this sounds easy to do, in practice it is a little harder than many people realize.  To effectively identify hazards requires an understanding of the job that is about occur and then to understand what could go wrong or where the hidden hazard may exist along each step of the job.  It is obvious that having a working understanding of the task is crucially important in effectively identifying the hazards associated with an activity or piece of work.  This is why it is so important everyone in the tool box talk / FLHA process fully participates, as everyone brings a different perspective and knowledge base to the task at hand, and it is this collaboration that allows us to effectively capture all the risks with the task, and not just some of them.

Also, our own personal risk tolerance and our own work history with a job also influences what we perceive as risks associated with a task.  For example, if we have done a job several times without any issues, we will naturally feel confident in executing the task in the future and will also have a tendency to downplay any hazards and risks with the job – regardless of whether we had effectively mitigated the hazards present in the work or not, or were following the right procedure.  The absence of safety consequences (i.e. somebody getting hurt) reinforces our misplaced confidence in doing this work.

Finally, hazard identification (and therefore mitigation) happens as soon as we step onto the site to start work.  It should be occurring as we are walking through the plant or driving to a well pad as well.  We should constantly be on the lookout for hazards and risks that can do us harm or our colleagues.  Once you have seen a risk, mitigate it or eliminate it if you can, and then inform someone else to take action on it if you cannot address it yourself.  We need to be on the lookout for hazards all the time and constantly as we go about our regular daily business.

Factors that Influence Personal Risk Tolerance:

• Overestimating one’s own capability and experience (increases risk tolerance)
• Familiarity with the task i.e. complacency (increases risk tolerance)
• Seriousness of the potential safety outcome (decreases risk tolerance)
• Voluntary actions and sense of being in control (increases risk tolerance)
• Personal experience with an outcome (decreases risk tolerance)
• Cost or implications of non-compliance (decreases risk tolerance)
• Confidence in the equipment (increases risk tolerance)
• Confidence in PPE and rescue (increases risk tolerance)
• Potential profit / gain from the action (increases risk tolerance)
• Role models accepting risk (increases risk tolerance)

Spend some time reflecting upon your own personal risk tolerance and how you adjust it appropriately every day when you come to work.  Are you effectively doing this for your team as well or is there more opportunity to step into this space and to help to more effectively and correctly identify hazards before they can cause harm?