Brother’s and Sister’s Keepers

Hardly any of us can do our best work all by ourselves.

We need teammates to help us stay focused and be fully present to our work. None of us can see all that is happening around us so someone to be our keeper is critical to our safety. We need someone to remind us if we are hurrying or preoccupied. We can do a much better take-two pre-start-up check if we have someone there with us looking, thinking about and talking over the work before us.

Here are some things that we need to be doing as a Brother’s/Sister’s Keeper.

• We can keep alert about someone being in danger because we notice that they are preoccupied.
• We can look for potential safety hazards, and talk about them with our teammates.
• We can check to see if our safety procedures are consistent and adequate for the job we are about to begin.
• We can talk with our brothers and sisters about looking for some really unexpected event or condition that could kill one of us.
• We can talk with our teammates about the elephants that are blocking us and messing up our work.
• We can help to check the OSHA rules and procedures to be sure we are in compliance.
• We can stop the job if we see it is going unsafely.
• We can help to be sure that we have the right tools for the work before us.
• We can ensure that we (alone or together) do not take shortcuts.
• There are lots of things we can do as a Brother’s/Sister’s Keeper and we can be open and receptive to the Brother or Sister looking after us.

Sometimes the events can roll out like a string of dominos. Some little thing at the beginning tips over, bumping into the next domino and so on until we have a big, ugly event. Brother’s and Sister’s can help us to see these little events and avoid the big one that comes like a snowball rolling down a hill.

Being a brother or sister goes both ways – I look after you and you look after me. This is a deep responsibility for us to be doing so that no one gets hurt or killed and we all get the job done to the highest standards.

Brothers and Sisters are really important when we dig more deeply into the real issues behind an observed hazard. Two or three people who are looking for and thinking about the deeper issues are much more likely to find the real, basic problem behind the hazard and be able to eliminate or minimize it. They can also help to find the best ways to circumvent a hazard; two minds are better than one!

Being our Brother’s and Sister’s Keepers is a deep responsibility we all have. None of us have a right to work in a place where it is okay for someone to get hurt. Taking on the roles and responsibilities of being our Brother’s and Sister’s Keepers is a big step in moving the organization’s safety performance beyond compliance towards excellence.