Recently I had a
situation in which we had several accidents at work close together. Those I work with move pallets and large
items with forklifts every day. In this
case they had dropped several items within a short period of time. Because of these accidents being close
together it caused some questions to be raised at the higher levels of
leadership. I was tasked with finding
out why we were beginning to see more accidents like these taking place and
figuring out a way to make sure they don't continue to happen. In my case, I am not an expert in driving forklifts. In fact, I am not even trained to do it. Most of the people I work with are though and
can provide a great deal of insight to help me with the problem. One of the biggest hurdles I have to figuring
out a better way of moving things is that many of the experts have been doing
it for so long that they are stuck in their ways.
In order to better
facilitate the decision-making process and to come to a better understanding on
the cargo moving process I decided to analyze the three most recent
accidents. What was the case in each
situation and what, if any commonalities existed that may have caused the
accidents to happen? I started with
bringing our flight leadership together along with those that were involved in
the accidents in order to discuss what had happened. After this we discussed any external factors
that may have caused the accidents to happen.
We then discussed the training plans that the squadron does for individuals
that are new along with the ongoing training plans. We assessed if there are any deficiencies in
these plans and what could be done to make them better. By including the stakeholders and experts in
the information gathering and assessment process I was assuring that the
process was thorough and the information was complete. I would be able to get the detailed
information from those that were there and be able to come to a better
understanding of each of the incidences that took place.
Involving
stakeholders in the brainstorming and solution creation process would ensure
that we would be coming up with a plan that would work within their
capabilities. If I was to come up with a
plan myself and execute it without their buy-in I would most likely spend the
next year and a half trying to make sure they continued to follow the
plan. If they have a say in creation
process they would be more likely to continue to execute the plan without my
having to constantly remind them. In
this case the stakeholders were the ones moving and driving the forklifts. Whatever decisions made through this process
would affect their day to day work. If a
poor decision was made it could affect their ability to do the job and could
cause a ripple effect of slow work, unhappy customers and long days for the
military members. By gathering the
stakeholders in the room to discuss the accidents they became part of the
solution rather than just receivers of whatever decision was made.
After discussing
what had happened, why it happened and the details of the training programs in
the squadron we then moved on to discussing what could be done in order to help
to make sure that things like this don't happen again. We discussed a variety of options that ranged
from applying tiedown straps to all cargo, lengthening the training process for
new airmen and making sure a young airmen was shadowing a more experienced
person in order to learn more from them over a longer period of time. During this process we also came up with a
number of limiting factors that would possibly make it difficult to execute
these solutions. Tied down straps often
come loose. Becoming an expert on a
forklift and each piece of cargo comes over a long period of time. Lengthening the training process does not
guarantee cargo will not be damaged or dropped.
Limited manning means everyone needs to be actively working on something
rather than shadowing someone else. By
having the stakeholders present and having an open and honest discussion we
were able to understand better what some of the limiting factors may be.
In the end we
decided it would be best to hold training on how to have the more experienced
airmen continue to train the younger airmen even after they are certified. We would also list dimensions and types of
cargo that would need to be strapped down in order to help ensure that cargo
that is more likely to fall would not fall in the future. Finally, because we have so many young and
inexperienced airmen in the flight, those with less than three years of
experience would be required to strap down any cargo over four feet in height
and over two hundred pounds. This would
help to ensure they are less likely to drop cargo while they are becoming more
proficient at moving it. By implementing
these changes we are ensuring that each member of the team is involved and that
it is not putting blanket changes to everyone that those with more experience
may not need.
Finally, by allowing
the stakeholders to be involved in the process and trusting their opinions and
input I am letting them know that they can come to me when something goes
wrong. If I make a decision in another
situation that may not be the best for the flight they know that they can come
to me with their concerns.
It would have been
an added value to discuss the process with members of the other flight in the
squadron. Although they are not involved
in the cargo moving process as they are an aircraft maintenance flight, their
insight in problem solving as a team is invaluable. They have a plethora of experienced people in
their flight and because of this they tend to make less mistakes then we
do. When they do make mistakes they
quickly come together as a team and go through the problem solving
process. By sharing these processes and
decisions with them it makes us more cohesive and helps us to work better as a
team.
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