My sister sent me a 52 second video on gun safety (or the lack thereof).
Watching the video triggered the thought of staring down the barrel of a gun and that an entire safety meeting could easily be developed on this topic. I'm not sure the video is real, but it looks real enough. Don't get hung up on whether or not it is - I guarantee no one will sleep through it, and you can use it to generate discussion about gun safety, decision making, personal accountability, near-miss reporting, risk taking, and more.
After watching the video, some will say, "No one in their right mind would do that!". I can't tell you how many times I've heard similar sentiments when doing a risk assessment or conducting a Root Cause Analysis. It's a tough challenge for lots of folks to realize when they are "staring down the barrel of a gun" or being in the line of fire… until it's too late! Quite often, it has become a "normalized deviation" where they feel comfortable taking unconscionable risks.
Do you encourage or discourage near-miss reporting? When people make embarrassing mistakes, how likely are they to try to hide it? What's in it for them to report? Can they report anonymously? That's what the Chemical Safety Board has asked DuPont to do following a fatality in West Virginia. Do you know enough about your organization to even answer these questions?
Many organizations will be discussing gun and hunting safety this time of year - kick these ideas around and come up with some creative and interesting training ideas. Let us know how it goes.
