Complacency – The Hazard that Sneaks Up on Companies with a Great Safety Record

Complacency ironically is a risk that shows up in companies and people with an outstanding history of safety performance. A level of comfort develops which lets you think, “It’s safe here,” or “We’re a safe company.” The reality is the potential for an injury has and is always there. The reason it, “feels safe here,” is that there haven’t been any injuries in a long time.
Complacency creates a false sense of security. Over time as things go well people and organizations become less alert. The only reason you have a safe record is that you keep your guard up every day. My most effective and successful clients have annual, quarterly or monthly safety meetings to remind everyone of the importance of safety processes, procedures, and protective equipment.

Complacency – Shortcuts and Illusion
As you know I use magic in my presentations to illustrate safety and communication principles. It also helps me gain and retain the attention of everyone in the audience. Shortcuts are their own kind of illusion, they trick us into thinking that skipping a safety procedure is ok. The trick is that when we take a shortcut it is likely nothing bad happens. This makes us think that it’s ok to take the shortcut. Every time we do so and nothing negative occurs it reinforces this dangerous belief. Worse yet others may follow our example and ultimately be injured.

How To Combat Complacency

• Realize as an organization you must constantly deliver your safety message. Safety is similar to marketing, you never stop because when you do things go bad.
• Keep your ego in check. Even the most experienced worker can be injured if they let their guard down. Experience doesn’t make us invincible.
• Be willing to do safety checks even for a task you’ve done thousands of times.
• Care enough to watch out for the safety of others. Have me come to your site or sites to share my life saving presentation, “Would You Watch Out for My Safety? Go to: https://tinyurl.com/2ky7afv9
• Rotate responsibilities. If possible switching tasks can keep workers alert and reduce routine fatigue. During a recent trip to Disneyland I noticed that they do this constantly with their “Cast Members.”
• Use pre-task briefings, a short safety talk before starting work refocuses the team and resets awareness.

In Conclusion
Complacency comes from feeling comfortable, but it is actually the diminishing of situational awareness. Being engaged, alert and being committed to your own and the safety of others at all times helps overcome this.