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Individual Root-Clause-Analysis

Started by James Shaw, September 18, 2018, 01:43:07 PM

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James Shaw

I have spent a significant amount of time over the last 20 years researching everything from industrial manufacturing safety programs to methodologies and processes intended to design a safety program for organizations. Several degrees and tons of researching other people's work has led to a single question I have never been asked "individually" but I feel is an important part of my personal safety journey and others who have an interest in the field.

What does safety mean to you?

This seems like such a simple question but brings so many different thoughts into my head that I have started to write them down and sort through them.  So far, I see this as a three-part question that needs more attention. I decided to call it the Root-Clause-Analysis for my own way of thinking and thought I would ask the group what their thoughts were.

.............So "What does safety mean to you?"
Jim Shaw
USN: 1987-1992
GANG: 1996-1998
CAP:2000 - Current
USCGA:2018 - Current
SGAUS: 2017 - Current

TheSkyHornet

Is this a philosophical, self-opinionated question (what do we think) or a practical application (what do we expect to actually see)?

Just making sure I go down the right pipeline

James Shaw

Quote from: TheSkyHornet on September 18, 2018, 01:51:02 PM
Is this a philosophical, self-opinionated question (what do we think) or a practical application (what do we expect to actually see)?

Just making sure I go down the right pipeline

I don't want to muddy your thoughts so I will leave that up to you. As I mentioned in my initial post I see it as three-parts and mine do go down a similar train of thought.
Jim Shaw
USN: 1987-1992
GANG: 1996-1998
CAP:2000 - Current
USCGA:2018 - Current
SGAUS: 2017 - Current

chuckmilam


PHall


James Shaw

Quote from: chuckmilam on September 18, 2018, 04:37:28 PM
"Root-Clause-Analysis?"

Yes that was intentional. I used clause for a specific reason.  ;D ;D
Jim Shaw
USN: 1987-1992
GANG: 1996-1998
CAP:2000 - Current
USCGA:2018 - Current
SGAUS: 2017 - Current

lordmonar

Quote from: S.O.S. on September 18, 2018, 01:43:07 PM
.............So "What does safety mean to you?"
Going home at the end the day with the same number of fingers/toes/limbs/et al that I started it with.
PATRICK M. HARRIS, SMSgt, CAP

TheSkyHornet

Safety, from a philosophical standpoint, is the absolute mitigation of injury or damage (i.e., doing everything you can to prevent "bad things from happening" to people and stuff").

From a practical application, it's really the balance between operational performance needs (output of affairs; productivity) and the above mitigation --- risk tolerance. Safety should be defined by an organization through a Safety Policy against a corporate vision with a list of safety objectives, requiring the dedication of resources (persons, money, equipment) to accomplish those objectives but with processes to determine where the line gets drawn (or who has the authority) to accept the risk at that measured level and continue with operations.

^ This is way more of a larger corporate overview than it is a mom-and-pop-shop safety program...but effectively, it's a "How do we not lose more but don't kill ourselves" line of questioning.

Live2Learn

#8
Quote from: TheSkyHornet on September 19, 2018, 01:29:03 PM
Safety, from a philosophical standpoint, is the absolute mitigation of injury or damage (i.e., doing everything you can to prevent "bad things from happening" to people and stuff").

Naw.  It's an empirically determined standard we all have tucked away that varies almost moment-by-moment.  It's the acceptable level of risk we (or some corporate/government organization) are willing to expose ourselves to of a 'bad' outcome from perceived known, unknown, and imagined hazards. 

Only TV personalities, shysters, an politicians SAY we want an "absolutely safe" (and boring) world.  The idea sells and garners votes.  When I see definitions of safey like that quoted I immediately think of Senator Schumer's many crusades to assure ... "never happens again" (fill in the blanks).  Maybe some very gullible people actually believe absolute safety is possible.  But that state of pleasant nirvana only exists when they're taking LARGE doses of anti-anxiety drugs.   ;)