Don't Forget

"Don't Forget" was the title given to an address by William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army in 1910. My son Joshua, a Salvation Army officer, sent me this.

"I am glad you are enjoying yourself. The salvation business is a friend of happiness. Making heaven on earth is our business. Serve the Lord with gladness is one of our favorite mottos. So I am pleased that you are pleased! But amidst all your joys don't forget the sons and daughters of misery. Do you ever visit them? Come away and let us make a call or two. Here is a home, six in family, they eat and drink and sleep and sick and die in the same chamber. Here is a drunkard hovel, void of furniture, wife a skeleton, children in rags; father now sleeping, the victims of his neglect. Here are the unemployed, wandering about, seeking work and finding none. Yonder are the wretched criminals cradled in crime passing in and out of the prisons all the time. There are the Daughter of shame deceived and wronged and ruined. Traveling down the dark and blind to an early grave. There are the children, fighting in the gutter, going hungry to school. Growing up to fill their parents places. Brought it all on themselves, you say? Perhaps so. But that does not excuse our assisting them. You don?t demand a certificate of virtue before you drag some drowning creature out of the water. Nor the assurance in a man of faded grace before you deliver him from the burning building. But what shall we do? Content ourselves by singing a hymn? Offering a prayer? Or giving a little good advice? NO! Ten thousand times no! We will forgive them. Feed them! Reclaim them. Employ them!Perhaps we shall fail with many. Quite likely. But our business is to help them all the same. And that in the most practical, economical and Christlike manner. So let us hasten to the rescue for the sake of our own peace, the poor wretches themselves, ____ (dean?) of these children, and the danger(Savior?) of us all. But you must help with the means. And there is nothing like the present. Who in this company will lend a hand by taking up the gauntlet?"

What is most interesting in terms of safety is that this address was given close to the time of what is called the first National Safety Council Congress in Milwaukee. At that time the keynote speaker, U.S. Secretary of Labor described safety as "Applied Christianity."

That time is ripe that safety be viewed not as a business with unprovable cause and effect relationships enforced by government but as a human service event much as Booth describes it.

David Sneed

Advice from Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury died today at age 91. Bradbury, sci-fi writer, was most known for his books The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451. In telling about what it was like to be a writer Bradbury once said,


"The first year I made nothing, the second year I made nothing, the third year I made 10 dollars, the fourth year I made 40 dollars. I remember these. I got these indelibly stamped in there. The fifth year I made 80. The sixth year I made 200. The seventh year I made 800. Eighth year, 1,200. Ninth year, 2,000. Tenth year, 4,000. Eleventh year, 8,000 ...
Just get a part-time job! Anything that's half way decent! An usher in a theater ... unless you're a mad man, you can't make do in the art fields! You've gotta be inspired and mad and excited and love it more than anything else in the world! 


It has to be this kind of BY GOD I'VE GOTTA DO IT! I'VE SIMPLY GOTTA DO IT! If you're not this excited, you can't win!"


Cowboy Safety is a waste of time if you do not have a goal of some kind are are willing to do what not takes to reach it. In a Cowboy Safety program there are many things that must be done that will otherwise seem to be a waste of time. The part-time job concept, not necessarily the part-time job, is a part of a Cowboy Safety program. 


Reread what Bradbury said about his earnings. It was not an accident that he reached 8,000 in year 11. He kept doing what he has to do in order to succeed. 


David Sneed

Portable Careers in Cowboy Safety Practice

Years ago I met a man who was single and who liked to travel. He had start out to be a doctor and changed his mind when  he viewed that it would be a confining career. He became a screw machine operator. He saw that it was a high-paying job with demand worldwide. What was even better, it was a language independent job. Drawings and dimensions and quantities were the same everywhere. As an experienced operator he did not have a learning curve. He achieved his goal.

"Portable" careers is the term used for jobs in high-growth, high demand industries with likely openings everywhere.

Employees have more freedom and can make more money with a portable career. Employers also benefit because they can increase or decrease their work force more easily.

David Sneed

What Happens When Time Passes

I am looking at The Wyoming Eagle, Cheyenne WY, of May 7, 1992...exactly 20 years ago. Seems like yesterday.

There are ads with prices. The Sea Galley at the Frontier Mall has Prime Rib and Crab Legs for $8.99 with Clam chowder or salad, and baked potato, rice pilaf, or golden fries.

The Kings Table Buffet has Friday and Saturday dinner for $4.99.

That is about half the price of the same items today. We do not readily think of the past 20 years as a time of inflation.

What was your revenue in 1992? Has it doubled since then? It would have to be double today what it was in 1992 just to be even with inflation. A doubling in 20 years, per the Rule of 72, is 3.6% per year of increase.

I think of a number of safety organizations both for-profit and non-profit that have revenue today that is LESS than what it was 20 years ago. Many of them have the same management that suffers from the same problem that all of us have. Time passes and we are not conscious of relative values.

If our revenue numbers are down is it because we have improved productivity or is it because we are in decline? Are we doing more units of service or are we doing the same or fewer units of service at ever increasing prices? It is important that we examine ourselves to see what is really going on.

One more comment. On page 18 of that same newspaper there is an article by Jim Farber of the NY Daily News entitled "Springsteen Makes TV Appearances." The article begins with the question "Has populist Bruce Springsteen lost some of his clout with the masses?" The article then goes on to give some stats on numbers of records sold and the fact that Springsteen was increasing appearances on tv and other places ostensibly to counteract his decline due to competition, new ideas, and younger audiences.

David Sneed

What Makes a Community?

Yesterday, I rented a bike in San Francisco and rode over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin. To get back to San Francisco I took the ferry from Sausalito to the Embarcadero.

While waiting for the ferry, I called my wife. I said "We are waiting to get on the ferry." In a later call she asked me who was the "we." She knew I was there to meet a man from South Africa. She also knew that our daughter-in-law Jessica was coming to San Francisco for a Salvation Army meeting. So the "we" was unclear. In one sense though it was just me. The cyclists were all off to the side separate from the pedestrians. "we" meant us cyclists. Why did I say we?

There are many cyclists on the bike path along the bay, on the bridge approaches, on the bridge and on the bike paths in Marin and Sausalito. Everyone stops at different points to rest. Cyclists pass each other and then get passed. They hold brief conversations and greetings. A certain number of cyclists then form a camaraderie of doing the same thing at the same time yet not being directly together. While waiting for the ferry loading some of these cyclists are able to greet each other as friends of the moment though names are not known and there will soon be a break-up. It becomes a "we." It could still be "we" to distinguish from the pedestrians or to group those about to do the same thing. In this case the "we" becomes a designation for a temporary community.

There are many types of communities that may not seem to be communities. Motorcyclists  wave to each other. On country roads with little traffic and relatively low speed there is the lifted index finger off the steering wave to each other. Cowboy hat wearers nod to one another. The same with drivers of antique cars, Corvettes, or whatever is similar yet uncommon. In the Xin Fu Kang Neighbourhood in Shanghai it might be senior citizens in specially designed buildings in a wealthy area.   

If it is not possible to say "we" then a community must not exist. Maybe if we (there it is again) can say "we" then  we can go further and clarify the type of community and can do, something for the common good.

As safety moves from mandatory behavior control to grass roots beneficial experiences, there will be more of the "we" communities. I'm going to work more on where the "we" should take place and how to know when the community exists.

David Sneed

Be Impartial and Objective

Here is David Teater of the National Safety Council illustrating an important safety principle namely to look at all of the factors involved in hazards.

There are factors within our control and out of our control. Some factors may mask others.  Be impartial and objective.

The National Safety Council is a good source of analysis material.

David Sneed

$189,000 Per Hour Pay

I just read today that the new CEO of Apple Inc has a starting pay of $378 million per year. That is $189,000 per hour. He probably does not get any overtime pay. Imagine what it costs the company for him to go to the men's room or to take a coffee break! If he was walking down the street in the Fall and the leaves were hundred dollar bills Apple could not afford for him to stop and pick them up. He would have to keep walking.

There are two things at play here. Ability relative to anyone else is not it. Knowledge is not it.

1. Apple has enough revenue that this pay as a percentage of revenue does not make much difference. On a per share basis the stockholders do not even see it. If what you are selling is a fixed cost item to your customer it can often be sold at a higher price. If you are selling packaging material you will be beat down unmercifully on price. If you are selling business cards or advertising material, made with the same type of equipment as the packaging material, you can get a much higher price. Remember this when you are the buyer.

2. This man's real ability is that he can make a deal like this. That ability may or may not translate into growth. He of course did not build Apple. He happened to come along at the right time. When we leave a job where we have built the business we see someone "enter into our labor" and maybe start at a higher salary than we were getting. This is why we should be the owner of the business and not an employee.

David Sneed

Who is a Candidate for a Cowboy Safety Program?

There are several things we know about a candidate for a Cowboy Safety program. It will be a business that either is or desires to be one or more of the following:

1. Owner operated.

2. Financially Independent. These businesses want to generate cash from internal resources to limit their dependence on loans and other credit. They want to be debt free as quickly as possible.

3. Family-based. At one time all business had family at the core. In many countries this is still true. It has almost become a truism that children now go on their own, get a job, and sell their time wholesale rather than keeping the production in the family. A creative family business can offer much better opportunity than going elsewhere for employment.

4. Diversified in concept even if not in products and services. They can view their business from the stand point of the problems they solve rather than the products and services they sell. They can adapt to new things as conditions change.

5. User of technology.

6. Faith-based. This is not for everyone but Cowboy Safety programs can include a spiritual dimension. LeTourneau Technologies, the manufacturer of large earth moving equipment, was completely faith-based as long as R G Letourneau was involved. There are many other examples.

David Sneed

Health and Safety Have the Same Problem

Dr Otis Webb Brawley, Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society, has written a new book called  "How We Do Harm:A Doctor Breaks Rank About Being Sick in America."

A CNN article about the book has recounted the story of a woman, Helen, who was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer.  As was fairly common in the early 1990′s – surgery was followed by high doses of chemotherapy – and a bone marrow transplant.  Quoting Dr. Brawley:

“The therapy Helen received was expensive and commonly given to women with breast cancer in the early 1990s. During this time, numerous women sued insurance companies who did not want to pay for the therapy and nearly a dozen states passed laws saying insurance companies had to pay for it.”

“There was one really good reason why the health insurers did not want to pay for high dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant for breast cancer:  No study had ever been done to prove it beneficial.“

“Even without evidence, some patients and their doctors had faith that it worked. The procedure was common because some doctors taught that the transplant was beneficial to patients. Truth be told, it was very beneficial to the doctors and hospitals offering it.”

I have not read the book but have read a number of excerpts. We all know that increases in the cost of medical care are not sustainable. We all know that with third party payers, people will seek medical care, and the medical profession will  provide it. While much medical care that is sought is unnecessary no one can fault a doctor for doing whatever examination and testing is needed. Therein lies the problem. Dr. Brawley says it best:


       ”The cold hard reality is America does not need to reform health care,we need to  transform health care.”

I have seen the same problem with safety of all kinds. There are plenty of studies showing safety problems but few reliable studies showing that the suggested remedies are the solution. Often there are ridiculous claims. One recent news article quote claimed that a certain teen driving program given over a period of years to a few hundred teen drivers in one county was the cause of a reduction in teen fatalities over the same period in this multi-million population state. A basic fallacy of the safety industry is that correlation equals causation. 

For many years CPR was taught as a combination of reduce breaths and chest compression. Studies of results showed a low survival rate and the trade varied dramatically from city to city. One city with a low survival rate sends out EMT's in a fire truck with every emergency call. Other studies showed that doctors did CPR poorly. The current protocol is no rescue breaths except for drowning and drug overdose. Chest compressions are all that is done. 

Reread the quotes about breast cancer treatment. With no evidence patients and doctors believed that a certain treatment was beneficial. In safety we see this all the time. Often OSHA requires certain measures and of course that becomes the only valid reason to do something. 

A safety officer at one company asked me if one AED would be enough at his company. For any effect an AED must be used within four minutes of someone going down. This man's company has two three-story buildings. To answer his question requires knowing how long it would take to get an AED to the site. They might need three in each building, one on each floor. When AEDs are mandated by law who knows how many might be required. 

The problem with safety is that many solutions are marketed and sold that will not provide any reduction of risk. The ads generally run "The National Safety Council says that there are X number of injuries every year from Y. The ad jumps to the conclusion. "Therefore buy our product."

Today I saw a simple safety statement in an interview. It was a definition of cowboy safety. I liked it because cowboy safety is not a product brand. Cowboy safety is a process. "My job is to protect bull riders from bulls" was the answer. 

The success of "My job is to protect bull riders from bulls" is measured by how many bull riders are hurt or killed. There are stats in all of safety but an OSHA inspection is going to measure a whole lot of other things that may or may not have an impact. Every OSHA recommendation always seems to recommend more training. 

What we need in safety is a transformation. We need to understand that there achievement of safety goals is not strictly material in nature. The creative process is viewed as mental and spiritual. Safety is the same. 

David Sneed

Over the Counter Medications Limits

Here is a great summary of common over the counter medications that shows side effects and limits of dosage.

http://www.healthnetworkfoundation.org/clientuploads/Dr.%20Locke%20articles/OTCMedicationsNOV2011.pdf

Did you know that the most common calls to Poison Control involve acetaminophen overdoses?

I am not much for medications. One time I was off on a trip and had a cold. My wife bought me several items. In reading the labels I noted that all were acetaminophen in various forms. All the labels said do not take any other product with acetaminophen while taking this. I ended up taking non of them.

David Sneed

As Safe As Necessary

Some good advice has been given by Peter Cornall of the UK based Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. He distinguishes as "safe as possible" from as "safe as necessary."

In the context of ice skating we can expect to fall and we can expect to be bumped by others. Other activities, both leisure and occupational, have different contexts of application.

Because ice skating is an infrequent event for most people there are possibilities of over-estimating ability and of not being in shape for the sport. Both issues can be the cause of serious incidents. One recommendation is to jog to warm up and to avoid the mulled wine.

David Sneed