It is an unfortunate reality that the danger in our industry of oil and gas is not limited to our locations, jobs, or even our commutes. Aside from the workplace and the traffic, the tentacles of danger have crept into our industry in the form of mental unrest and stress by social, financial, and overall pressure felt in our daily lives.
Without being political, I must drop the reminder that the times, they are a-changin’. Crime is rising. Law enforcement is diminishing due to lack of personnel, which in turn is due to lack of prosecution, which translates into caving to social pressures.
Families are struggling to make ends meet, companies are experiencing pressures for profit, homes and families are dividing. All of which directly affects, and parlays into, the work scene. Fatigue, stress, and insecurity are not conducive to workplace safety. Safety, regardless of studies, consist of mental, physical, and psychological well being. We can talk about training, compliance, jsa’s, observations, etc., until we are blue in the face. If your mind is not in it, you’re not going to win it.
OSHA has even acknowledged that mental wellness is a key to a safe and productive workplace. They also did a study that found that workers who get quality sleep perform more safely than those who do not. Efficiency goes up, mistakes go down. Just based on my experience I would buy that. Who would have thought that good rest would enhance work performance? [Sarcasm]
Our industry’s business is affected by all that is going on. How many crews work a 12-hour shift faced with an hour drive to and from location. And we wonder why traffic fatalities are on the rise. Suicides are up. Crime is up. Robberies are up. Broken marriages are up. Drug abuse, child abuse, and in some cases employee abuse is up. Mental health is an issue. We as a safety entity preach rest, focus, and profit. Seldom do we do it. We are too busy focusing on what is wrong as opposed to building on what is right.
How many companies have an in-house counselor, or is that HR’s job?
Frustration, fatigue, finances find failures. (I normally don’t try alliteration in articles). But they are applicable sometimes in driving a point home.
So I feel that I’ve shown that pressure (literally and figuratively) is a major component in failures. Accidents are a failure.
I contend that quality of life is an integral part of safety.
Lack of stability in the job market, available qualified personnel, and inflation compound virtually every facet of safety. The bottom line is, we are heavily into uncertain, stressful times.
People go to drugs, theft, and violence as a manifestation of their frustration. How many incidents or accidents have you seen or heard of that occurred when someone was doing a task with pressure involved? Was the trigger something physical, mental, or self imposed due to perceived expectations of success?
Pressure, self inflicted or otherwise, begets poor decisions which begets incalculable events.
What do we do when anything pressures up in the oilfield? We install a pressure relief valve to release the pressure. I submit to you that helping our personnel with a relief valve will lower pressure failures! Examples would be (10) Time off, a day with the family or (2) Money—always of benefit. Why not spend time trying to figure tangible ways to eliminate stress as opposed to adding to it.
Safety requires balance. There are so many factors in any industry that affect performance. Fatigue and stress lead to bad results. Numerous individuals fall victim to self-inflicted stress driven by their need to excel. Kind words of encouragement go a long way. Plus, they relieve stress. What’s the cost of kind words? Kind words boost morale and supply a built-in pressure relief valve. Kind words put a little pep in the step! The employees feel appreciated for their hard work.
Kind words are easy to talk about but sometimes, for some individuals, they can be difficult to execute. For some, the immediate reaction might be… why? Who has the time to go around and encourage people? We do. You will be surprised at how surprised employees can be at hearing a word of encouragement.
If being encouraging doesn’t come natural to you, you might be a candidate for some encouragement yourself. You’ve heard of “happy wife happy life.” It’s no different in the workplace. The bottom line is mental health and a stress free workplace are conducive to a safe work environment. The numbers support this claim.
It’s not how many hits you have in baseball that counts. It’s how many times you reach home safely that counts! —Dusty
Dusty Roach is a safety professional based in Midland. He is also a public speaker on subjects of leadership and safety, and he maintains a personal website at dustyroach.com.