If you think you can screw this up...

Errors make life interesting.  If it weren’t for errors, both by us and by those around us, life would be pretty dang boring.  Some harried people (like me) might enjoy a boring day once in a while, but human nature is that we’re just a bunch of screw-ups.

I saw a presentation recently in which the expert stated we all make at least five errors per hour.  I would suggest that number is low, because the only worn-out key on this keyboard is the backspace (and I’ve only had this computer for a month).  I hope I’m a better at managing than typing, but I’m certain I make mistakes all the time – some I realize quickly and some I never learn about (I’m wagering on this one because I’ll never know, will I?).  I came upon a group of workers a few weeks back during a production interruption, where four of them were not working and one was.  They were doing a miserable job and I’m sure the four were resting from recent exertions.  It did not stop me from idiotically teasing them by saying, “What?  You guys think you work for the government now?  One guy in the hole and four watching?”  Needless to say – it went over like the proverbial lead zeppelin and I did not get a whole lotta love.  I’ve since apologized to each of the five, but had I been just a tad more tactful I would not have been in the damage-control mode.  How well do you think the five performed the rest of the day?  They probably didn’t bust their butts.

The beauty of this is that I learned from it and I’ll try not to do it again, though I probably will because I’m only a 25 watt bulb.  The consequences of my vacuous actions were temporary (I hope).  What about those truly terrible mistakes that get people hurt or cost a lot of money?

The difference between an oops and something worse is the consequences.  You read earlier that everyone makes at least five errors per hour.  The same gentleman who averred about the errors also said that you will never reduce that number and if you try you will go -

A)    Broke, and

B)    Insane.

But you actually can reduce some errors by introducing a barrier to the error.  Folks my age and above will remember that a few years back we had a choice in gasoline besides diesel, unleaded or premium.  Back then you could buy leaded gas, called “regular”.  Those same oldsters may recall that the nozzle at the regular pump was larger than the nozzle for unleaded gas (the nozzle that is now standard).  It would be much more difficult to put regular gas into a car that was designed to run on unleaded.  Not impossible, mind you.  A determined idiot could still screw up his car’s pollution control devices with the wrong gas, which proves that sometimes a barrier is not perfect.

Barriers to the error will not often come so easy.  Sometimes it is more a question of reducing the consequences.  Has anyone ever heard the superstition that you should not walk under a ladder?  There’s an obvious reason – gravity.  If the person on the ladder drops something during the brief period of time you are there and hits you, the consequences are far worse than if the object simply landed on the ground because you weren’t there.  In our plant we manage the consequences of any overhead work by prohibiting work below and installing barricades.

Another consequence-reducer we’ve tried deals with some heavy equipment we use as part of the process.  These are closely related to the loaders you might see at a large construction site.  The folks who operate these behemoths receive very little training and as a result they drive them any which way they please.  I think we recruit these operators from the interstate highways around Atlanta, but I’m not sure.  Anyway, they would somehow manage to break the differential gearboxes on a regular basis.  Repair of the differentials was costing my department tens of thousands of dollar per year.  The lead mechanic came up with an ingenious solution – shear pins.  We began to install shear pins to protect the differentials and the costs went down by 70%.  The errors were still occurring, but the consequences weren’t as bad.  [Though now that I think about it there may have been some “counseling” done to the operators by the mechanics that might also have contributed to the improvement.]  Replacement of a shear pin was easy and relatively cheap.

NASCAR has done something similar in the years since Dale Earnhardt Sr. died during a race at Daytona.  At many of the ovals on the circuit they have installed “Safer” barriers on the corners.  The drivers will still make errors, and the wrecks will still bring folks out to watch, but the energy absorbed by the barrier will reduce the energy of impact to the driver and keep our good ole boys miraculously walking away. 

Here’s one more tidbit related to this subject.  Some say that a critical step is one where you cannot bear the possible bad consequences.  Also, that same step might not always be critical.  This is totally subjective, and meant to be totally subjective.  Let’s take a simple example – driving to work.  It is critical that I stop at the intersection when the light is red because I cannot bear the possible bad result of causing an accident, both monetarily and emotionally.  However, if I were rich it might not be critical.  I’d have lots of money and not worry about having to buy myself and someone else new cars and I’d probably be a jerk, too, and not worry about the harm I’d cause.  But we know THAT will never happen…  [I’ll leave that suitably ambiguous.]

How much of your time is spent chasing down errors or in damage control after an error is made?  Don’t try so hard to reduce the errors.  Look for the critical steps, and look at the possible consequences, and breathe a little easier in the future.