This blog is about living longer, healthier and happier. Having a lot of money, racing pigeons, stocks, or real estate may just be consequences simply because you lived long.
We want a longer life. Everyone normally wants a longer and healthier life. I pray God will grant me 120 years or more. Seriously.
Everyone wants to enjoy a longer and healthier life productive, profitable, honorable, admirable, and positively describable life. Not many want to live long being fed with porridge while strapped in a wheelchair. I want to be able to go biking at age 119. Laugh if you like.
That desire to live long is basic to every human being.
But health and life can be damaged or lost in a second or in a day - because of an accident that could have been avoided.
Please keep on checking this blog. And please do make comments that will help others avoid or prevent accidents also. We cannot and will not cover every accident that could happen. That would be exhausting. But a single accident avoided because you read about it in this blog is worth the time taking a look here every now and then.
The life we save can be our own. Or our own family.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Preventing Accident is a Frame of Mind
Accident prevention starts with a frame of mind.
Simply stated, it starts with thinking first. It starts with thinking what to think about first. It starts with thinking what could go wrong.
To start with "everything will go right" is to start with hope. Hope is what you do last when you do have done what you can afford to do.
There is an adage called Murphy's Law which states "If anything can go wrong, it will".
Time for application: Summer picnic. What could go wrong?
It depends where and how I will have the picnic. If I will have it in our backyard or in the mountains or on the beach will make a big difference. Let us say we will go to the beach. We will take the car and Uncle Joe will drive, Mom will prepare the sandwiches and I will be the organizer and coordinator.
Frame of mind: what could go wrong?
1. We get lost.
2. We run over a pedestrian.
3. We forgot the food.
4. Uncle Joe drowned.
5. We forget the lifejackets.
6. We all died of shark attack.
Next step? What were the reasons for them going wrong?
We did not bring a map.
We brought the wrong map.
Our brakes failed.
We did not assign a checker to check if everything was alright.
No one listed food as a thing to be verified if brought.
Uncle Joe had a heart attack or heat stroke.
Uncle Joe did not know how to swim.
Uncle Joe had cramps.
Uncle Joe tried to save a drowning person.
Uncle Joe did not wear a lifejacket.
Lifejackets were not listed among what to be brought.
We thought there were no sharks.
We swam where the sharks swam too.
We did not heed the signs warning on sharks.
Aha. What can we do to prevent the above from happening? Well, assign Billy to make sure we got the right map. Warn Mary to make sure Billy does it. Make sure Uncle Joe have the brakes checked and rechecked. Ask Mary to make sure Uncle Joe does it. I will be the checker of everything if done right. Make sure we are near the lifeguards and we know the nearest hospital. Read on first aid on cramps. Discourage Uncle Joe from trying to save a drowning person. Dont go where there are no other people swimming.
So right there, we may have done preventive measures against certain things going wrong. Who will do the thinking of the wrongs and the measures? Everybody except the baby in the crip and Grand Dad who can't remember what is right from wrong. If it is a group effort, it will be fun planning. Grand Dad can have a beer and sleep throughout the picnic except for having lunch.
First think of the wrong that could happen. Then think about the causes. And then do the actions to prevent the causes. Simple.
The common approach is to go straight or directly to the actions that prevent the causes. If one has listed 100 measures, he might think that he has covered all the wrong that could happen.
Brainstorm. It is part of the picnic. It has its own share of the fun.
Please comment and tell us a story of your picnic. We will appreciate knowing the wrongs that you did not prevent. We will learn lessons from you and from others.
Simply stated, it starts with thinking first. It starts with thinking what to think about first. It starts with thinking what could go wrong.
To start with "everything will go right" is to start with hope. Hope is what you do last when you do have done what you can afford to do.
There is an adage called Murphy's Law which states "If anything can go wrong, it will".
Time for application: Summer picnic. What could go wrong?
It depends where and how I will have the picnic. If I will have it in our backyard or in the mountains or on the beach will make a big difference. Let us say we will go to the beach. We will take the car and Uncle Joe will drive, Mom will prepare the sandwiches and I will be the organizer and coordinator.
Frame of mind: what could go wrong?
1. We get lost.
2. We run over a pedestrian.
3. We forgot the food.
4. Uncle Joe drowned.
5. We forget the lifejackets.
6. We all died of shark attack.
Next step? What were the reasons for them going wrong?
We did not bring a map.
We brought the wrong map.
Our brakes failed.
We did not assign a checker to check if everything was alright.
No one listed food as a thing to be verified if brought.
Uncle Joe had a heart attack or heat stroke.
Uncle Joe did not know how to swim.
Uncle Joe had cramps.
Uncle Joe tried to save a drowning person.
Uncle Joe did not wear a lifejacket.
Lifejackets were not listed among what to be brought.
We thought there were no sharks.
We swam where the sharks swam too.
We did not heed the signs warning on sharks.
Aha. What can we do to prevent the above from happening? Well, assign Billy to make sure we got the right map. Warn Mary to make sure Billy does it. Make sure Uncle Joe have the brakes checked and rechecked. Ask Mary to make sure Uncle Joe does it. I will be the checker of everything if done right. Make sure we are near the lifeguards and we know the nearest hospital. Read on first aid on cramps. Discourage Uncle Joe from trying to save a drowning person. Dont go where there are no other people swimming.
So right there, we may have done preventive measures against certain things going wrong. Who will do the thinking of the wrongs and the measures? Everybody except the baby in the crip and Grand Dad who can't remember what is right from wrong. If it is a group effort, it will be fun planning. Grand Dad can have a beer and sleep throughout the picnic except for having lunch.
First think of the wrong that could happen. Then think about the causes. And then do the actions to prevent the causes. Simple.
The common approach is to go straight or directly to the actions that prevent the causes. If one has listed 100 measures, he might think that he has covered all the wrong that could happen.
Brainstorm. It is part of the picnic. It has its own share of the fun.
Please comment and tell us a story of your picnic. We will appreciate knowing the wrongs that you did not prevent. We will learn lessons from you and from others.
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