Transcription
Early in my career, I was working at the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. I was outside of our headquarters building, awaiting a launch. The launch occurred. In 90 seconds into liftoff, we saw an explosion. An explosion that turned out to be a horrific incident that changed the course of our national space history forever. And it was 60 seconds upon 60 seconds of decisions that management made that led to this horrific incident.
On a different level, I was working for TRW in Northern California. I was a young safety professional. We had three individuals working in a lobby. They were sanding and stripping down a wall to restore it to its original wood finish. They were using some low flash point solvents. A light switch cover was left off. A hazard assessment wasn't conducted. A flash or two appeared on the wall as they were using the low flash point solvent to strip the wall and bring it to its original finish.
A flash pushed the first gentleman back, a young individual, an apprentice by the name of James. They laughed it off. There was a precursor, you see, a precursor to this event. Another flash appeared, and it pushed James back further. He knocked over this container of fluids. He slipped and fell, and the flames quickly surrounded his body. In his panic, he ran down the hallway. The flames further surrounded his body more intensely. A brave coworker tackled him to put out the fire. In some ways, it was too late.
James was transported to the Stanford Burn Unit and remained there for months. Skin graft after skin graft, microsurgery on many of the major joints of his body to regain flexibility and mobility. His life was changed forever. No one stepped up. No one stepped up to be a great safety coach. No one elevated the concern for safety on this job. They thought it was so mundane. They were so complacent and comfortable with their work that they proceeded. They thought that they could get away with it.
It happens in the best organizations if we don't have our guard up, if we don't create a great culture of coaching and trust built upon strong relationships. I'm going to talk to you about stepping up to be a coach, to be a leader, to build relationships based on a foundation of caring, and to clarify the personal importance of working safely so that we could get up here in between the ears where real and substantial change is made.