Anatomy of an Injury: A Series of Bad Decisions

The Casper, Wyoming Star-Tribune ran a sad story about a family who had lost their mother in an automobile crash and their uninsured home and possessions to a fire. Two sons had narrowly escaped death in a rollover auto accident. The family is suffering from a series of bad decisions. Choices were made about driving and about not insuring valuable assets that have left loved ones to determine how they will survive.

Consider the last incident in your organization. What led up to it? There’s little doubt that some poor choices or bad decisions were at the forefront. Hopefully it wasn’t a serious incident and people learned from it to make good choices and wise decisions about working safe. However, far too often, we work with organizations that have experienced serious or fatal incidents that have left co-workers, leaders, and family members wondering why their friend or loved one failed to follow the safe work procedures, didn’t wear their personal protective equipment, or properly perform the work. It’s a tragedy and it’s tough to deal with.

In our years of working with hazardous industries around the nation, we’ve learned that serious injuries don’t occur with one bad move. Without fail, we can look back at these incidents and see that they started long before the injury occurred. It may have begun years before with a poor attitude about safety practices, lack of training, or lax management practices with regard to discipline or corrective action. These led to poor task planning, lack of attention to safety procedures, or failure to wear PPE or use protective equipment. The result is the same: a seriously or fatally injured employee with a family and friends left to deal with the aftermath.

Starting today, take time to think what would happen to your family and friends if you make wrong choices about how to approach your work. Ask yourself:

What would my spouse do if I couldn’t continue to work because of an injury?
Who would raise my children if I weren’t there for them?
How can I do my work as safe as possible so I can continue to be a contributor in the lives of my family and friends?

Take time for yourself and do whatever it takes to make sure that nobody gets hurt on your next job.