Start with small things
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These days, it’s common to hear some companies shouting slogans such as \"Focus on small things for safety,\" \"Focus on small things for quality,\" and \"Focus on small things for energy conservation.\" Do people think this approach is correct? Some factories, in an effort to ensure safety, pay close attention to employees’ safety training, dress codes, and every word and action they take – and that’s fine. But I think this focuses on only minor aspects; it’s like paying attention to trivial details while overlooking the more important issues. True safety should start with intrinsic safety, as it is only through intrinsic safety that true security can be achieved. Therefore, conducting proper intrinsic safety analysis and inspections of the equipment is the first step toward ensuring safety, but at present, the order of priorities seems reversed. Furthermore, in companies, there is constant talk about energy conservation and emission reduction; people focus on things like preventing employees from printing on both sides of paper, ensuring that the air conditioning in offices isn’t set too low, and turning off fans when the offices are empty. Yet, no improvements are made to the truly energy-intensive equipment or to inefficient processes. Even if air conditioning isn’t used or printing is avoided, how much cost can really be reduced? There’s so much publicity about this in newspapers and brochures, but I think it’s misleading. Everyone says to start with small things, but I believe it’s unscientific; instead, efforts should be focused on larger issues first. Therefore, focusing on safety and energy conservation cannot be merely a slogan; nor should efforts be limited to dealing with ‘minor issues’. Such minor issues actually don’t contribute much to enhancing safety, nor do they help reduce costs significantly.
Many a little makes a mickle;* habit turns it into nature. This view of thrift is correct; there are no big things without small ones. Focusing on minor details prevents one from neglecting the essential.
Safety is no trivial matter; *habits become second nature. :)
Safety is no trivial matter. One year, after our major maintenance work was completed, everyone finally relaxed. The hoses connected during the major maintenance have not yet been removed completely, resulting in a leak due to the rupture of those hoses.
Little by little, when quantitative change reaches a certain level, a qualitative change occurs.
This post was last edited and replied to by yhhh on 2012-1-6 at 23:24. Reply 1# ggnnn: Safety is no trivial matter; small violations and minor hazards can lead to major accidents
Without taking small steps, one cannot cover a long distance; without gathering small streams, no river can be formed. Major safety hazards must not be ignored. We emphasize starting with small things, and the reason why safety is never a trivial matter is that unsafe conditions of certain objects and unsafe behaviors on the part of people can lead to serious accidents. For example, throwing away a cigarette butt may seem like a trivial matter, but it can turn into a serious fire if it causes one. There are many more such examples. “Carrying out an intrinsic safety analysis of the equipment, along with checking employees’ safety training, dress codes, and their behavior in general, are not contradictory tasks; it’s sufficient to ensure that all of these aspects are properly addressed. Is that right, everyone?
Reply to 1# ggnnn: Take a look at DuPont’s four stages of safety needs: Stage 1: Natural instinctive reaction. For enterprises and employees at this stage, their emphasis on safety is merely a reaction to an innate instinct for self-protection; employees comply with safety rules in a passive manner ； Safety lacks the involvement of senior management. Phase 2: Relies on strict supervision. The characteristics of safe behavior at this stage are: commitment to safety responsibilities by management at all levels ； Employees follow safety regulations passively. Phase 3: Independent management. At this stage, enterprises already have sound safety management systems; a strong safety awareness exists among employees, who regard safety as a personal achievement. Phase 4: Team mutual assistance management. At this stage, employees not only abide by various rules and regulations themselves but also help others do so as well ； Not only observe unsafe behaviors and conditions in one’s own position, but also pay attention to those in others’ positions ； Employees share their safety knowledge and experience with other colleagues ； Pay attention to any unusual emotional changes in other employees and remind them to follow safety procedures ； Employees regard safety as a collective honor. Now DuPont has progressed to a stage of team-based collaborative management. At present, many companies are still in the first stage. In the stage of improvement and development of a standardized enterprise, there is still a need to further enhance and refine the safety management awareness among management personnel. Safety facilities are inadequate, safety awareness is low, and numerous brutal and careless violations keep emerging. Ignoring this fact and insisting on reaching the third and fourth stages is nothing but talking to a bull, building a house in the sand, or trying to catch fish by climbing a tree.
This post was last edited by dyh633 on 2012-1-9 09:29. Rationalization suggestions are sought from all employees, and those that are adopted will be rewarded, with small efforts adding up over time.
Reply to 9# yuchenchf: The version focused on Wubi is for the entire set, right, not just combined characters?
Merely shouting about such things or adopting a temporary approach won’t solve any problems. It is a matter of corporate culture. Corporate culture is something that develops over time, emerging through gradual influence over many years.