Schedules, Being Rushed, and Safety by safety speaker John Drebinger

Today, as always, presented opportunities to put safety values to the test. I had arrived in Cincinnati last night and checked out the weather forecast. Snow was expected to begin early in the morning. I had planned to arrive at the speaking site at about 11am for my 12-noon safety presentation, “Ensure Your Safety”. As a safety speaker, I customarily arrive about one hour early. Because of the anticipated snow, I decided to leave two hours early in order to make the trip and allow plenty of time for the unexpected.

How often do you and your people add extra time when the unexpected could occur? Had I left when I originally planned, I would have possibly been faced with choices to take chances in my driving speed because of the pressure of schedule. Instead, I was able to comfortably go with the flow of traffic, which was about 50 mph in a 65 mph zone.

I wonder how many injuries occur because someone made a choice based on schedule instead of safety. Sometimes you can make a small adjustment that can take off the pressure, as I was able to do today.