APM Team,

“Perfection is the enemy of good.”

This commonly stated quote was repeated in a meeting I joined in Atlanta this past week. The meeting was a review of recent safety performance. Using a lean tool called the PSR (Problem Solving Report), we dug into the data to identify trends, with the goal of (i) taking immediate action to prevent injuries today and (ii) taking long term action to get better at preventing injuries in the future.

The context of the above quote was stated right after this question was asked:

• What one thing would you implement tomorrow to temporarily address the problem?

For us at APM, one trend we have seen is that lower experience ratings among crews correlates with a greater risk of a safety or quality event, i.e., a less experienced crew is at greater risk of having an injury or error. (You may be thinking or saying, “Duh. Tell me something I don’t know.”) There were a few long term actions we have considered taking, ex: better planning up front to bring the superintendent and core craft on site earlier for walkdown and to review work packages, lay down maps, and evolution plans.

 What we need from you is this: If I told you that your crew was at greater risk of an injury or error because your crew’s experience rating was low...

• What one thing would you do today to prevent an injury or error from occurring?

• How would you daily manage that one thing?

I would love to hear from YOU – the experts in the Field.

 Our goal is not perfection. Our goal is continuous improvement. Everyday. As I used to tell my players, “Good today. Better tomorrow."