Page 30 - Occupational Health & Safety, March 2019

GAS DETECTION
How Much Awareness is Too Much Awareness?
We are already struggling to tread water in a sea of devices vying for our attention. When connected safety programs are properly implemented, these can be a life raft, and with some work, a speed boat to navigate these waters. BY KYLE KRUEGER
Our personal and work lives are now inun- dated with notifications and alerts. We con- vince ourselves that our increased aware- ness will have significant benefits. Bing!
You have a new e-mail. Ding! Your weekly status report is due. Dong! You have a new friend request. Beep! Beep! Beep! You are currently in a hazardous atmosphere. These are all vying for our attention in an attempt in improve our awareness. However, to even the most seasoned awareness warrior, these become a flurry of buzzes, rings, dings, and beeps that can be- come a mundane hum, an ordinary part of our day.
We are so accustomed to being “aware” that awareness has lost its meaning. We now judge many of our buying decisions based on the capac- ity of devices and systems to make us more aware. Anything that can’t deliver an alert 24/7 is seen as in- ferior. While we have seen significant improvements because of technology, we are now at an interesting tipping point. How much awareness is too much awareness? Are we just dumping these alerts into a vast hole? Why did we want the awareness in the first place? What is the point?
Although this is not intended to be a “those darn kids and their technology” piece, it is intended to challenge and put these alerts and awareness into per- spective. While our consumer lives have adapted (or attempted to adapt) to a fast-moving wave of inno- vation, the safety industry is just now getting readily available “connected devices.” My concern is that un- like other “awareness” about news events, restaurant reviews, or cute kid photos, a level of safety awareness
can drive significant change in the workforce. Howev- er, if the industry gets too wrapped up in the material aspect of alerts and the devices that create them, we can quickly shut the door on an even brighter future.
If any of you have read my prior articles, you will understand how I loathe that gas detectors are viewed as PPE. Gas detectors don’t protect you from any- thing; rather, they make you aware of the atmosphere. The protection comes from acting properly with the information. And from someone who has made a ca- reer “geeking” out on gas detectors, I say that from a place of love, not hate.
Accordingly, an alert from an awareness device is just one more person being aware that a hazardous condition currently exists. If this is indicative of an acute life-threatening incident, I am not downplaying the importance. It is significant. However, I do think we need to question whether knowing when every- thing has fallen apart quicker is truly a marketable improvement in safety.
What I believe would be a truly marketable im- provement in safety is to view these alerts and aware- ness through the lens of the hierarchy of controls. An alert from a “PPE” device is still at the bottom of the pyramid. However, it has the potential for upward momentum. If we can aggregate this data to change how people work, isolate them from hazards, and eventually eliminate hazards. If we do that, we can tap into the full potential of connected safety. These in- sights can change the way thousands of people work and hopefully save hundreds of lives. Maybe then we can work to make sure people aren’t placed in “alert worthy” situations.
However, when these alerts are broadcast into bottomless pits, so is our ability to eliminate death on the job. Just because we can place more sensors on more people that generate more alerts doesn’t mean the problem is being solved. Putting more sen- sors that prompt more alerts to people who are con- tinually put in the same situation with no feedback is the equivalent of walking through a busy intersec- tion while texting.
What Can We Do Better?
When we are having our collective “connected” con- versations in the workplace, we would be wise to have a strategy to take advantage of the truly valu- able long-term aggregate data and insights that are
24 Occupational Health & Safety | MARCH 2019
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