Meeting Volker: A Good Way to Begin 2011

My wife asked me to buy some gifts for some of our friends.  We’re in Heidelberg, Germany and had just finished an excellent lunch at Vetter’s.  I noticed a small shop across the street and walked in.  The proprietor greeted me in German, but switched to English when I said, “Hello.”   He was friendly and soon began telling stories about the cloth bags, pillows, and other items that were filled with lavender.  We had such a good time talking with one another that I was very glad for this chance encounter.   2010 was a year filled with many opportunities to meet people from around the USA and around the world.

It’s a good way to begin 2011 by meeting Volker Rother on January 1.    If you would like to have a good year, be open to meeting new people and appreciating them for who they are, wherever they are.   Have  a wonderful year, Volker!

Posted January 1st, 2011 in Human Factors, Observations

Memorial to Fallen Logger(Times Have Changed)

Last week I hiked through the Partnach Gorge in Bavarian Germany.   Commercial logging took place there from the 1700s to the late 1800s.  Several loggers lost their lives.  There is a memorial with a separate marker for each logger.  This gentleman evidently plummeted into the river from one of the rock formations.  It reminded me that commercial logging is still a dangerous profession.  I guess that is why Axe Men and Swamp Loggers are popular.  They are on BBC with a British narrator which sounds unusual to someone from the southern USA.

It also reminded me how much the emphasis on safety in all hazardous industries has increased through the years.  Sometimes we question if all the regulations and practices are necessary.  They cost time and money, and the regulatory burden is great!   Perhaps a better mindset would be that our responsibilities for public and employee safety are great.  If we accept those responsibilities, then we might avoid memorials for people who lose their lives as a result of our operations.

Posted December 31st, 2010 in Human Factors, Leadership, Observations

Happy New Year and Good Luck

When I see people in top hats and pigs, my first thought is not new beginnings or good luck.  In Germany, they symbolize those things and can be seen in most stores at the end of the old year.   I hope that 2011 is a great year for you, and you are as prosperous as a pig.  I hope you climb high on the ladder of satisfaction in all areas of life and that if you are a chimney sweep, you remain safe in your job.

Let’s apply these old practices to 2011.  Pigs represented prosperity for agricultural families because they provided food, fertilizer, and more pigs!   A pig displays its ability to convert what it consumes into energy.  Therefore, the gift of a candy pig on New Year’s Eve could symbolize good wishes that the recipient prosper, using one’s strengths and forgetting past failures.

The chimney sweep cleans the chimney and the hearth, and lots of people will be cleaning homes, offices, psyches this week and next.  It’s out with clutter and unhealthy practices.   It’s a new beginning, and that requires a clean slate(and chimney).

Look around your workplace.  Would it benefit from a thorough cleaning and purging of old materials?   Could it be a valuable exercise to identify what would make 2011 a more excellent year in managing the risks of your business, including the risks of human factors.  Look at the organization, the job, the individual.  What habits or practices cause problems?  What things, big or small, could improve the work environment?

Pipeline control centers face a big challenge in 2011.  They have to develop and implement a control room management and human factors plan.  This is going to require a mindset, a paradigm shift, in changing practices that may have been followed for many years.   Although the rule requires that changes affecting pipeline safety be correctly managed, the development and implementation of this rule also needs to be managed well and timely.

Sweep clean, be as prosperous as a pig, implement all changes safely, and happy new year!

Posted December 29th, 2010 in Human Factors, Observations, Operational Excellence