An often repeated scenario (with varying fact patterns) within Flowserve:
A worker is rushing to get a shipment out. They decide that they don’t have “enough time” to use a crane or get help lifting a heavy item into a box. While lifting, a sharp pain is felt in the lower back. They stop the task, speak to their supervisor, and finish the day at a medical facility. Instead of spending three minutes to finish the job using the proper, safe methods, much more productive time is lost waiting for treatment of the injury.
And an actual event:
Injured worker told supervisor that he was manually moving a part during machining. Normally, this part is moved with an automatic drive but given the set-up, it was necessary to manually move it. This job was under a heavy time constraint and the project manager was present and observing the worker. It is believed this added pressure for the worker to hurry and caused distractions, which contributed to the back injury the worker suffered.
Flowserve is in business to make a profit and thus will face customer requirements that create the need for quick turnarounds. Profit and good customer service enable each of us to have a job. Unfortunately, certain actions can apply a sense of urgency which carries the message that this task is more important than any other so it is “acceptable” to cut corners and do whatever it takes to get something done as quickly as possible.
“Slow down” with a workplace free from distractions, employ a steady pace, and focus on the task. The result is that work will “speed up” because a heathy, engaged workforce is in place. Much more is lost when rushing results in injury. Not only is someone unnecessarily hurt, but we lose a worker’s time and expertise and face potentially significant compensation costs which impact profit. We may lose business if Flowserve accident performance does not meet customer requirements, and abuse of equipment from trying to speed things along may result in unplanned spending to replace broken components. Both significantly reduce profit.
Taking the time to do it the right way always pays off in the long run. When you hurry, all you do is hurry up and hurt.
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Think about it:
There is an anecdote about recovery from the common cold. One can take cold medicine as directed, drink lots of fluids, rest and modify their eating – and the symptoms will be gone in “seven days.” Or one can change nothing – and they will recover in “a week.” This analogy is used to point out that human intervention normally has no impact on making a cold go away any faster. Human intervention also cannot make machinery and equipment operate faster than their designed speeds nor can it make paint dry any faster. Keep the pace steady in the workplace for the safest and best results. Then everyone wins.