Hello, everyone.
This is Enta.
Recently, I’ve been attending safety meetings and other such events.
When I attend safety-related meetings like this and hear all sorts of things, there are times when I suddenly stop and find myself thinking.
But that's beside the point.
This time, I’d like to talk about that “moment when I stopped and thought”—specifically, safety awareness.
This time, rather than talking about construction methods or numbers, I’d like to ask you to bear with me as I try to organize my thoughts.
I don't have a punchline or a neat answer prepared—I just wanted to apologize for that in advance lol.
I’ve attended various safety meetings—but has my safety awareness really improved?
Safety conferences, training sessions hosted by the Labor Bureau, and industry association meetings. I have the opportunity to attend a variety of events, but,
To be honest,Is safety awareness really increasing on the job site?
There are quite a few moments when I think that.
The scariest thing is that I, who think that way, might somehow bring up the topic of that meetingI find myself listening to it as if it were someone else's problem.That's the point.
"Yeah, yeah, that's right," I nod, agreeing that it's an important topic, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I find myself thinking, "Well, I'm sure we'll be fine."
As a business owner, I’ve heard stories like this dozens of times, and yet I still can’t seem to shake this feeling.
To be honest, I find it quite difficult to figure out how to convey this to our employees.
Even if you take what you heard at the meeting back to the office and relay it exactly as it was, it will probably go in one ear and out the other, filtered through the “it’s-not-my-problem” mindset.
I think communicating with others is more difficult than teaching technical skills.
While technical skills can be imitated by simply showing the steps, the same cannot be said for mindset.
No matter how many times you say it, some people just won’t get it; on the other hand, a single close call can suddenly change others.
To be honest, I still can't quite put into words what this difference is.
At the morning meeting,"Let's do our best today—safety first!"That's easy to say.
But when it comes to how much of a concrete image of danger actually forms in the minds of the workers when they hear those words, to be honest, it’s mostly just talk.
As a site manager myself, I’ve said things like this hundreds of times, but I wonder how often they actually reached the listener’s mind as a “concrete mental image.”
When I start thinking about it, I don't feel very confident.
Or rather, I'm just saying it for the sake of saying it.
I don't think anyone could say something like that.
You'll get in trouble.
But that's the truth.
I'm guessing "Let's do our best" is the only thing we all agree on, right?
Should we let people experience danger firsthand so they see it as something that could happen to them?
So, how can we get people to see these dangers as something that affects them personally?
The way I see it, when it comes down to it,Wouldn't it be more effective to let them experience it for themselves?That brings us to this point.
This is strictly my personal opinion, and I don't claim to have any definitive answers.
We set aside about two hours at the site to let participants experience firsthand situations that are close to being dangerous.
I think creating that kind of opportunity will help people remember it better than explaining it a hundred times with words.
To be honest, though, setting aside two hours for every on-site visit is quite a burden.
To be honest, we still haven’t figured out whether it’s worth halting production to do this, or whether we can sustain it given the size of our company.
What's more, they recreate, in some way, the kinds of accidents that are likely to occur at that site.
There used to be safety training that used 3D goggles, but it seems like that’s no longer a thing...
I think the cost and effort just don't justify it.
It wasn't bad, though.
One of the most challenging tasks is providing safety training to the technical interns from Nepal and Vietnam who are employed at our company.
I will be traveling to the site for a job interview, but the working conditions and safety training in my home country are quite different from those at work sites in Japan.
The very perception of danger varies depending on the environment in which one was raised.It's just too much, so I'm like, "What about Japan's safety???" lol
Just saying, “It’s the rule in Japan, so follow it,” doesn’t really make sense to them, does it?
This isn't to say that the interns themselves lack motivation; it's simply thatThe amount and structure of the safety training they’ve received up to that point are different.That's the story.
Depending on whether one grew up in an environment where systems such as morning briefings, KY activities, and point-and-call procedures are routinely incorporated into daily life—as is the case at construction sites in Japan—
It is only natural that people have different starting points when it comes to sensitivity to danger.
If we simply brush that aside with the saying, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” the message we really want to convey will go unheard.
That’s why I wonder if we need to place more emphasis on hands-on learning—allowing students to experience things for themselves—rather than just explaining things with words.
Start by strictly enforcing the use of basic safety equipment—such as safety goggles, protective gloves, and safety harnesses—and gradually help them understand “why they’re necessary” through hands-on experience.
To be honest, with classroom instruction that relies solely on an interpreter, there are times when I’m not sure how much is actually getting across due to the language barrier.
It takes time, but my current impression is that there are no shortcuts.
What I’ve noticed during my visits to the site for interviews is that everyone is diligent and a quick learner.
That’s exactly why I often find myself wondering if delays in safety training aren’t really a matter of the individual’s motivation, but rather a problem with how we design our training methods.
Provide materials in the participants’ native language; use photos and videos to show side-by-side comparisons of “dangerous situations” and “safe situations”; and have participants move their bodies in a setting that closely resembles real-life conditions.
I guess I just have to keep doing things like this... (How much should I spend on this!?)
The Obstacle of Optimism Bias | The Truth Behind “It Won’t Happen to Me”
Even if someone points it out, it usually ends up being okay at the time.
Because I haven't experienced it, I'm even less likely to learn from it.
Why don't people change?
What comes into play here isOptimism BiasThat's the idea.
Optimism bias is one of the "positive illusions" proposed by psychologist Sherry Taylor; it is defined as a psychological tendency to believe, without any basis, that nothing bad will happen regarding one’s future or the circumstances around them. *1.
A similar concept is the “normalcy bias,” which refers to the tendency to downplay inconvenient information—even when faced with an abnormal situation—by thinking, “I’ll be fine” or “It’s business as usual.” This concept is also discussed in safety lectures held by the Labor Bureau, among other venues.*2
In practical terms, it’s that unfounded confidence that says, “It won’t happen to me” or “I won’t get caught in it.”
The moment the director points something out on set, it really hits me—but since I’ve never actually had to learn the hard way, in my mind it stays a mere fantasy until the very end.
That's why I keep repeating the same thing over and over.
Since we're human, we can come up with as many superficial words as we want.
"I'll do this for safety! I'll follow safety procedures and be sure to point out any issues... and so on."
However, if it doesn't remain in my memory as something that happened to me personally, I'll be back to my old self the very next moment.
You might think that the only way to make it stick in your memory is to fall, cut off your hand, or break your hand—but that’s impossible in reality.
Just having that pointed out to me—since I haven’t experienced it, I can’t remember it…
I believe this applies to everyone—not just trainees, but also experienced staff.
In fact, some have pointed out that the more experienced a person is, the more likely they are to fall into the same trap in the form of overconfidence*3.
Precisely because I’ve been doing this for so many years, the threshold for my own judgment—where I think, “This much is fine”—keeps getting lower and lower.
All you coaches know full well that there are times when veteran players are actually more of a risk than the younger ones, right?
The problem is that this bias cannot be completely eliminated.
If people didn't have at least a little optimism, they'd be overwhelmed by anxiety every day and wouldn't be able to focus on their work.
So, perhaps the goal shouldn't be to "eliminate bias," but rather to "establish a system in the workplace that allows people to recognize when bias is at play."
Will simply pointing out the problem really reduce the number of accidents?
When I attend safety meetings, everyone says, “If I see any unsafe behavior, I’ll make sure to point it out.”
I think this is a good thing in itself, and I don't disagree with it.
But to be honest,Will that alone really reduce the number of accidents?I've always wondered about that.
I’ve also seen cases where pointing out problems becomes the goal of the job itself, and the whole thing ends up as a pointless argument over whether something was said or not.
The person who pointed it out is satisfied with saying, “I made sure to point it out,” while the person who was told off thinks, “I just need to fix it for that moment,” and that’s the end of it.
Even though a record of this remains, nothing has changed in terms of behavior.
It is a well-known fact that safety is not something that someone else monitors and ensures; rather, it is something that each and every person on the job site should inherently take responsibility for through their own actions.
There’s no doubt that it’s important to ensure that workers consistently use the minimum required protective equipment, such as safety goggles, protective gloves, and safety harnesses.
That said, it’s true that being called out on things is holding me back, but I’d be in trouble if an accident actually happened, lol.
This is such a contradiction!! lol
We also always check equipment and other items during orientation for new visitors, and we have no intention of relaxing this policy.
However, isn't it true that ensuring people wear the proper gear isn't necessarily the same thing as reducing the number of accidents themselves?
This is because equipment is, after all, merely a form of "insurance" to "minimize damage if something does happen," and is a separate matter from "preventing dangerous situations from arising in the first place."
Another thing that’s been on my mind at work isSomeone who can shout out loud on the spot...is its existence.
In a dangerous situation, while some people shout to alert those around them and take immediate evasive action, others simply stand there frozen, watching.
Lately, I've been feeling that people who can shout out loud on the spot probably instinctively know where the dangers lie.
That said, I don't like people who yell on set (another contradiction, lol).
However, people who can’t or won’t raise their voices may not yet have truly internalized the danger as something that “affects them personally.” (This is just speculation, though.)
There is still no clear answer as to whether this is due to a difference in experience or a difference in personality.
When someone observes unsafe behavior, they should stop it immediately.
While this is the ideal, simply espousing ideals won't get things done on the ground.
That said, I also wonder if imposing unrealistic safety guidelines from above can really be called “safety guidance.”
Is it really safe to require workers to wear work clothes with fans—as some major general contractors do—or to prioritize the opinions of company executives over on-site safety?
A management style that merely stifles employees will actually discourage them from speaking their minds or seeking advice.
If we create an atmosphere where it’s difficult to report near-misses, that would be putting the cart before the horse.
Safety management must not be merely a formality.
How can we create a system that actually changes people’s behavior, rather than just a safety management system where people simply follow procedures while keeping an eye on the clock?
For my part, I want to make sure I never stop feeling this sense of unease.
What do you all think?
I hope that next year, I can turn the sense of unease I feel every time I attend a meeting into more concrete initiatives for our company.
See you later.
*1 The explanation of the optimism bias as one of the “positive illusions” proposed by psychologist Sherry Taylor is based on information found in several explanatory articles.
*2 The content of the Labor Bureau’s presentation on the normalcy bias is based on publicly available materials.
*3 The observation that overconfidence among skilled workers can lead to workplace accidents is based on an explanatory article in the field of occupational safety and health.
