By its nature, humans do not like changes, hence the ease in becoming complacent.
Complacency is the state of being comfortable with our work, having unfounded confidence, no longer seeing the dangers around us, working mechanically, being on “autopilot”. The woodsman is no longer afraid of his power saw, the steel worker is no longer afraid of heights, the hunter is no longer afraid with a rifle. The attitude: “It will not happen to me... only to others!” Complacency is a feeling of security, it is the unconsciousness of the existence of possible dangers, potential failures or any other unexpected phenomena. Accidents happen when you least expect them and when analyzing reports of serious or fatal incidents, complacency almost certainly returns as the main cause or an aggravating factor.
A good example of complacency is a Winnipeg worker who comes to see me because he says he has no danger related to his task and does not know what to write on his 2X2. I looked at him and saw that all his fingers were covered with medical tape. I then asked him the reason for his getup. He replied that he was installing metal bars on the ceiling and that they were very sharp... He said: “So I put tape to avoid cutting myself!” In his complacency, he identified a danger and set up a control without realizing it. For him the danger no longer existed.
Another example was this scaffolder who replied when I asked him to strap up: “I've been doing this job for 20 years and I never fell!” I had to remind him to strap up at least ten times during a month-long shutdown. When dismantling the scaffolding, the same worker fell and suffered multiple fractures, broken sternum and a punctured lung. He could not do his job for his 21st year because, at 61, healing is not as quick as at 20.
We must take time to move our eyes before our arms and legs because, we must give our brain time to analyze the situation before proceeding. 2X2, taking a step back, morning meetings, health and safety breaks, reporting events and "close calls", reading posters in the trailers, are great ways to break the complacency.
As complacency easily takes over, getting out of it requires effort, but by providing the effort to change your old habits, you will develop new ones and you will be rewarded by having a safer workplace. You will be in the process of “curing” your complacency when you start to notice your colleagues doing unsafe actions. By being complacent, we no longer see anything around us, only performance and production, the rest goes unnoticed…
