"Forget impossible to fix." Where do we put the comma?
No one will argue that an HSE engineer is often unloved, uninvited, and unwelcome. However, if something happens, they are the first person people turn to. It is similar to the behavior of children as they grow up: avoiding their parents to limit their influence. Generally, the context is clear — every worker or crew is convinced that everything is "fine" because they have that ironclad argument: "we’ve always done it this way, and nothing happened..."
But time does not stand still. Technology improves, new mechanisms appear, materials change, and people's behavior must change too. Yet, it is so difficult to break old habits. Nevertheless, no one can deny that the production culture is evolving. When Saint Petersburg was being built, many people died during construction according to various records, though the exact number is unknown. Today, everyone agrees that "at any cost" production methods are no longer acceptable in the modern world. So, what needs to change so that personal responsibility, self-control, and the ability to identify potential hazards before starting work prevail? If something goes wrong, how can we evaluate these hazards and foresee the consequences if something is done contrary to technology...
In everyday life, car owners clearly understand the risks of not changing the oil or skipping scheduled maintenance. But what about at work? The repetition of actions day after day and the formation of habits make initially minor changes in workplace order or slight deviations from approved technology invisible. Then, trash and waste accumulate, eventually cluttering walkways. But these changes happen so slowly and imperceptibly that, once they become habitual, they are perceived as correct. A job done once with a deviation from technology — relying on "luck" — becomes a habit. Only equipment failure or an accident acts like a "stop card," forcing us to investigate the causes and identify the flaws.
So, in production and even in daily life, "forget impossible to fix" — where do we put the comma? No one will dispute the now-familiar phrase: "there are no small things in safety." This means it is very important and necessary not to forget anything, but to plan and fix everything that has become "convenient" but remains wrong.
Now, how should we plan? Planning is not just for the planning department and finance. Everyone can plan how to organize their own work. The simplest way: dedicate 10 minutes (or even just 5) before starting work and at the end to establishing operational order at the workplace. At home, no one likes entering a cluttered living room or a kitchen piled with dirty dishes; the same applies to work. What would be useful: first, determine a specific place for tools, documents, keys, and everything you use at work; then, make it a rule to check the condition of everything used in the process. Let's call this the first step.
It is very important to learn not to leave faulty items behind but to immediately discard them into a separate area, calling it "quarantine," for example. (Step two). Perhaps some issues can be fixed immediately, such as closing a door or tightening a connection.
The next step, Step 3, is to set a date in your weekly or monthly plan for a comprehensive inspection and the elimination of all deficiencies that could not be fixed immediately.
It will be very useful to keep a list of these deficiencies. By recording them month after month, you will develop your own list of recurring issues you want to tackle. This is development — continuous improvement. This way, weak spots in the areas are identified, showing what needs to be addressed and controlled. A sort of checklist of things that frequently fail and require constant monitoring — this is your cheat sheet for action.
Finally, how do we overcome these weak spots? There is a tool for this: define your own key rules for the site. These will be aimed specifically at things that repeat time and again, hindering work and causing you to waste unproductive time.
For example, if the local lighting bulbs at your workstation keep burning out. What could be a key rule? To start work in the morning without rushing around looking for bulbs, mechanics, or electricians, you can test them at the end of the previous shift. To avoid forgetting, you can prepare a "work completion" checklist for yourself with two or three evening control points and a mark on the sheet. Of course, you might say, "Another piece of paper!..." But this is not a paper sent "from above"; it is created by you, based on your experience, regarding what is necessary and important to you — things that must definitely work in the morning, and you must be sure of it. You can rely on memory, of course, but doing this day after day, dates can get mixed up. Therefore, checking and confirming at the end of the shift is more reliable: "Checked, it works." Writing it down means you definitely checked it. So, your first key rule has appeared. The same applies to the second and other "problems" that prevent you from working peacefully.
Such small steps will lead to big changes. First, they help you realize what needs to be changed to avoid risks and stop wasting time. Second, the workplace or workshop will begin to transform quietly but steadily: clutter and accumulation will disappear, everything faulty will move to one place and eventually be decommissioned, and everything necessary for work will always be in its place...
Now, about consolidating the result. When an approach involves uncertainty like "I'll do it when I have time," it means "never." If you plan 30 minutes or an hour a month or week to dedicate to safety issues and strictly follow the schedule you've set for yourself month after month, you will be able to solve these accumulated problems effectively without distraction. If possible — and it's better if it is — get yourself a whiteboard, corkboard, or magnetic board and mark a "Safety Day and Hour" in your schedule. It is very important that the whole crew joins in, and for that, as the song goes, you need to be "persistent and stubborn."
So we have come to the point of finding the place for the comma. In production, there is only one place to put the comma — right after the word "impossible": "Forget impossible, fix."