GESchwarz
Well-Known Member
The following are some thoughts on why it is so easy to make mistakes and why it is so easy for a second set of eyes to catch them. I certainly haven't captured the whole subject in this first post but it's a start. I would like to put this out there for your edification and input. Most fatalities can be prevented by having a better understanding of this subject.
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Why a second person must inspect work performed to insure that the guy doing the work did it right.
1. The first person is the guy doing the work. He has the following demands placed on him and it puts him at a disadvantage as far as detecting his own mistakes.
1.1. A number of variables will challenge his ability to do the task quickly and correctly. Variables have to be figured out and solved.
1.2. The task takes time and therefore there will be opportunities for him to become distracted causing him to overlook something. Success in solving an intermediate problem, obstacle, or task can easily give him a sense that he is finally “Finished!”, even though he’s not.
1.3. While solving problems he may become disoriented and therefore getting something positioned or rigged upside, backward, reversed, offset. etc, read or record a wrong measurement, leave something in or leave something out, etc.
1.4. It must be done by a certain time. Schedule pressure is a powerful distraction. Key steps to completion can be skipped or incompletely performed, or even done out of prescribed sequence.
1.5. Because the task may take a long time, by the time he’s nearing completion he may be tired or otherwise looking forward to being finished or moving onto the next thing.
1.6. Although he should be focused on getting it right, he may be more intent on just getting it done.
2. The second person is the Inspector. He has only one task...
2.1. Is it correct?
3. To be an effective Inspector, one must have the correct attitude. The following are two possible biases an Inspector may have.
3.1. The Inspector trusts that the work was done correctly and therefore assumes that all is correct. When he is inspecting, he is looking and expecting to see that everything is correct. His confidence will cause him to not look in places that may be inconvenient or routinely check out to be okay.
3.2. The Inspector does not trust that the work was done correctly and therefore has a strong belief that there are mistakes. He knows from experience that even the most professional people can and do make mistakes; therefore he “knows” that the mistakes are present and he is earnestly looking for them. He knows that if he doesn’t find it, the consequences could be terrible.
***
Why a second person must inspect work performed to insure that the guy doing the work did it right.
1. The first person is the guy doing the work. He has the following demands placed on him and it puts him at a disadvantage as far as detecting his own mistakes.
1.1. A number of variables will challenge his ability to do the task quickly and correctly. Variables have to be figured out and solved.
1.2. The task takes time and therefore there will be opportunities for him to become distracted causing him to overlook something. Success in solving an intermediate problem, obstacle, or task can easily give him a sense that he is finally “Finished!”, even though he’s not.
1.3. While solving problems he may become disoriented and therefore getting something positioned or rigged upside, backward, reversed, offset. etc, read or record a wrong measurement, leave something in or leave something out, etc.
1.4. It must be done by a certain time. Schedule pressure is a powerful distraction. Key steps to completion can be skipped or incompletely performed, or even done out of prescribed sequence.
1.5. Because the task may take a long time, by the time he’s nearing completion he may be tired or otherwise looking forward to being finished or moving onto the next thing.
1.6. Although he should be focused on getting it right, he may be more intent on just getting it done.
2. The second person is the Inspector. He has only one task...
2.1. Is it correct?
3. To be an effective Inspector, one must have the correct attitude. The following are two possible biases an Inspector may have.
3.1. The Inspector trusts that the work was done correctly and therefore assumes that all is correct. When he is inspecting, he is looking and expecting to see that everything is correct. His confidence will cause him to not look in places that may be inconvenient or routinely check out to be okay.
3.2. The Inspector does not trust that the work was done correctly and therefore has a strong belief that there are mistakes. He knows from experience that even the most professional people can and do make mistakes; therefore he “knows” that the mistakes are present and he is earnestly looking for them. He knows that if he doesn’t find it, the consequences could be terrible.
