Story Sharing: In work safety, be vigilant against the “few minutes in Mutsu””

Thread Content

This post was last edited by wang*nhua77020 on 2016-10-25 at 23:10. The story below has inspired many thoughts in me; it shares many similarities with our actual work... In 1944, Air Marshal Baldwin of the Royal Air Force issued an order: each squadron was to conduct a thorough investigation and compilation of details regarding all the aircraft and crew members involved in combat, and to submit a report to the headquarters. 　　When the report was submitted, Baldwin was very dissatisfied. He said, “The report is full of information about the condition of the fighter jets, their whereabouts, and the names of the pilots who died. That’s not what I wanted; redo the statistics.” ”　　A new report was submitted once again, and Baldwin provided a detailed explanation. Half a month later, he asked all squadron leaders to attend the meeting. Baldwin said seriously, \"The newly submitted reports provide very detailed and comprehensive information regarding the crashed fighter jets, the pilots who lost their lives, as well as the reasons and location of the crashes.\" Based on these data, I conducted a statistical analysis and discovered a shocking result: what takes the most lives is not the enemy’s fierce artillery fire or the severe storms of nature, but rather pilot errors. ” “Do you know where the pilot’s mistakes lay? ”Baldwin asked. “The times when accidents occur most frequently are not during intense firefighting or emergency evacuations, but rather in the few minutes before landing, upon returning from completing a mission. ”Baldwin’s words left even more people in confusion. After some detailed explanation, everyone suddenly realized it. It turns out that the pilot remains highly focused amid the enemy’s barrage of gunfire; despite the harsh external conditions, their brain is in a state of extreme excitement, which makes it less likely for mistakes to occur. On the way back, the pilot became increasingly relaxed; once they finally saw the familiar base and their aircraft got closer to the runway, a sense of security arose in them immediately. It was precisely this moment of relaxation that led to disaster. This is failing at the last moment. Due to the pilot’s lack of vigilance and failure to properly carry out safety procedures from start to finish, the aircraft was destroyed and lives were lost. Similarly, in work safety, isn’t that also the case with many accidents? Many employees are able to focus on following safety procedures and adhering to operational standards more closely when faced with difficult and numerous production tasks, thus completing their work duties excellently. However, once the construction is completed and the important tasks are finished, many employees feel relieved and become less vigilant, which creates the potential for accidents. The Analects of Confucius, ‘Xue Er’ states: “By showing respect for the deceased and honoring their memories, the moral character of the people becomes more profound.” ”In other words, the closer things get to the end, the more careful one needs to be; only by maintaining that same level of care can things conclude successfully. Laozi said: If one is careful until the end as at the beginning, there will be no failures. It is undeniable that when significant progress or achievements are made in safety work, some employees develop a sense of complacency. However, safe production is a long-term endeavor; it has a starting point but no end point. As long as there is production activity, potential hazards will always exist. Therefore, as an employee of a company, one must resolutely eliminate any sense of slackness and remain vigilant until the very end. The closer we are to the completion of tasks, the more careful we need to be, and we must thoroughly carry out the final preparations before handing over duties as well as finishing up all work on hand. By being responsible for 60 seconds for every minute spent on duty, we can bring safe production to a successful conclusion and achieve a safe outcome.