Autrey - 6-Hour Safety Culture: How to Sustainably Reduce Human Error and Risk

6-Hour Safety Culture

How to Sustainably Reduce Human Error and Risk

(and do what Training alone cant possibly do)

Tim Autrey

Human Performance Association, Inc.

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Published by:

Human Performance Association, Inc.

1712 Pioneer Avenue Suite 1166

Cheyenne, Wyoming 82001 USA

The author has made every effort to provide accurate contact information and Internet addresses at the time of publication. Neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright 2015 by Tim Autrey

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Autrey, Tim

6-Hour Safety Culture: How to Reduce Human Error and Risk (and do what Training alone cant possibly do)

Includes bibliographical information

ISBN: 978-0-9964098-0-3

http://www.6hoursafetyculture.com

The Human Performance Association, Inc. (HPA) is an international not-for-profit collaboration of next-level thought leaders and practitioners in the fields of human behavior, error reduction, culture transformation, safety, quality, instructional technology, and performance improvement. Its members are wholly dedicated to making the world a better, safer, and more productive place.

http://www.hpaweb.org

Thanks a bunch for your rating and review of 6-Hour Safety Culture !

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To my hero, Ray Autrey (my Dad), for always believing in me and daily demonstrating an exceptionally well-lived life.

To my Mom, Thelma Autrey, for continually reinforcing that we can be anything we want to be in life.

To my wonderful wife, partner, and very best friend, Suzette, the most amazing woman I have ever known, with whom I am so blessed to experience the incredible adventures of life.

To the magnificent members of the PPI Team, the finest most impactful culture-transforming professionals on the planet.

Introduction

In the early 19 th century, mothers giving birth in hospitals averaged 25% mortality (one out of four didnt make it). This was average. At times, death rates reached 100%. Puerperal Fever was the culprit, caused by infection. You think we would have learned. In 2014, the leading cause of accidental death in the US is medical error, a large percentage of which result in infectionsin hospitals. One Texas healthcare system, however, has apparently cracked the code in stopping such errors. Since 2010, several of their hospitals have gone years without a single case of ventilator-assisted pneumonia or central line associated bloodstream infection.

In 2009, a large 25-year-old coal-powered electrical generating station in rural Texas had (8) safety incidents reaching the OSHA Recordable level. For a station with a site population of approximately 285 bargaining unit employees, this was an abysmal safety record. In the fall of that year, the team at that station learned (and implemented) a simple process and approach for minimizing human error. In 2010 they had zero OSHA Recordable safety incidents. They went on to set station and unit operating history records in safety, reliability, and profitability.

In an era where it seems to be normal for US airlines to declare bankruptcy, to re-organize, and to merge with other airlines to stay afloat, there is one company that is consistently rated at or near the top in virtually every category. From its inception, this organization had a priority focus upside down from normal business philosophy. Today, the cost to take a ride on one of its planes are some of the lowest. It doesnt charge fees for checking baggage or changing your travel plans. It has the largest / most modern fleet of 737s on the planet, and is, incidentally, one of the most profitable airlines in US history.

How did they do it? Through simple focus upon the ultimate frontier in performance- human performance .

Twenty years ago, I was speaking across North America on how rapidly change was accelerating. What I spoke of during those days long ago is now ancient history. Think about it. In 1995, how many of us even had an email account (let alone being able to Google something)? Today our world (including our workplaces) is transforming at a mind-numbing rate.

One thing Ive said for many years is, If youre not growing, youre dying. There is no standing still. In all things subject to the forces of nature, including human beings and the businesses we run, this has always been (and always will be) absolute truth. Its just faster now.

With the proliferation of technology and global connection, the need to learn and grow has never been as extreme as it is today, and quite honestly, itll be even more extreme when we wake up tomorrow morning. This puts all of us in a very interesting place.

My work, the work of our company, The Practicing Perfection Institute, Inc. (PPI), and the recently formed Human Performance Association (HPA) ( http://www.hpaweb.org ) focus on human performance- why people do what they do the way they do it. Since 2005, weve worked with tens of thousands of employees around the globe, helping some of the largest organizations on the planet reduce error, improve safety, elevate overall quality and reliability, and ultimately, increase profitability. All of this while workers simultaneously acquire a greater sense of contribution, ownership, and self-fulfillment. A huge win for everyone involved.

There has never been a more results-oriented environment in the history of the planet than that in which we are working today. Transparency, integrity, simplicity, sustainability- such are the watch words of our current business environments. Theres no place to run, no place to hide. You either innovate and produce, or someone else will- thereby taking your place (whether its your personal job were talking about or your entire organizations position in your marketplace). This environment is scary and worrisome for those who long for the good olde days; exciting and filled with opportunity for those of us who embrace it. As Valentine said in Tom Stoppards play Arcadia , Its the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong.

As in virtually every field, the amount of learning and information accumulation relative to human performance continues to grow in both volume and complexity. As one who is either running a business, or has direct responsibility for improving some aspect of its performance, your job is to separate the wheat from the chaff, and then, to transform science and discovery into actionable strategies and tactics that produce results.

Until now, most performance improvement efforts have been long, drawn out, tedious, expensive, and have typically produced results that leave organizations looking for the next thing. This is why weve done our best in PPI (and I will do my best in this book) to provide you with, as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it, simplicity on the far side of complexity.

6-Hour Safety Culture offers a journey, from understanding, to strategy, to actionable tactics, into how to sustainably take the performance of your organization to its next level.