It is safety is about common sense?

It’s very common that we heard people said safety is about common sense. Is this true or is just another term that we normally use and we normally hear and make us believe it is a common sense. Initially as safety & health practitioner I did also buy in with this belief and still have some thought that some safety concern is really a common sense. Nearly 10 solid working years of my experiences in the safety and health fields, those belief is always with me and I tried many time to justify myself most of the safety concern can not be assumed as common sense. Let me trying to elaborate further why did I believe so.Let start with basic understanding of three main words itself, Safety, Common and Senses. A good start with what is safety, a plain definition or meaning of safety is prevent and control of accident from resulting in harm, damage and pollution. Referring to Longman dictionary safety mean “not in danger or harmful/not harmful”. The meaning doesn’t make much different in term of end result that is to ensure we have a good system or process that ensuring no/less danger or less harmful to those involve especially human. It is about prevention and controlling the hazard that can lead to an accident which result in harm, damage and pollution. The next word is about common, which can have similar synonyms as similar, frequent, general, universal, familiar and regular. This is referring to Microsoft word synonyms. Referred to the Longman dictionary is also referring to the same definition such as happening often, same, similar and a lot. A last word is about senses, that is about feeling about something or the ability to understand and judge something which come from our 5 gifted basic senses like feeling, sight, hearing, taste and smell. If we combine those three words meaning we can roughly said that the ability to understand and judge using our senses to interpret the universal or general thought that can prevent and/or control hazard from harm, damage and pollution.Common sense can originate from two main factors and to that extend from certain judgment and the understanding of certain concern and issue. The two most common factors the influence decision is an outcome of these two basic elements.1. Understanding of the subject matter. This about the knowledge that person have that will assist him or her to derive the decision effectively. In other simple term, if you have better knowledge for certain subject for sure your decision will be more appropriate and will produce a better outcome.2. The other factor is about your experience of dealing with the issue or challenge. Is this working life, we experienced so many kinds of challenges and obstacles in carry out our works. Those challenges most of the time is not established with the same scenario and mode of addressing it also different. That’s why to those whose had exposed him/herself will have better ways/options of doing things right and derive the decision better. Is not only about the work involvement but also about personal involvement in dealing with the challenge. Example of a person personally involved with the challenge compare with a person was indirectly involve but has heard and read which later create some impact the person e.g. person who injured himself in an accident compare with person who just hear and read about the accident.These two factors have influence us a lot in our daily decision making and help us dealing with daily challenge the ways our understanding and experience taught us.Let step back little bits and understanding day to day example of safety is not only about common senses. Start with example why some safety can be considered as common sense and some can’t. Taking driving behavior as an example, a good start with simple example from driving experience, since all of us are driving. An example during going down the hill at our normal speed, our common sense taught us that we have to slow down to ensure we drive at safer speed. Another simple example is at home on how we ensure that not let the sharp knife can be reaches by our kids. It is a common sense that we will put it a safe location and not easily reach by them. What we afraid that they might take and play with it later might get injured. I believed there are many more examples that we simply perceive as common sense.What about those that we can’t consider at common sense? Here is some example that can help to differentiate the different. Let take few example at the plant environment where at one area which has the same system since the first day of the operation until now. Different approval authority has different thought about how thing going on the location or work require at this location, example of prior approving the permit, some approving authority putting so many conditions to same kind of activity but the other approving authority did not do so. Why? It is because those two factors mentioned above that generate individual gaps and creating the same situation to be treated differently. Most of the cases does not contradict the basic safety need of ensure whatever we do does not create or expose to harm or can result in damage. That why most of the concerns do not addressed in the procedure or regulation. Too many things in procedure are also not good. Its will limit our freedom to move and act appropriately. That why safety most of the time is not a common sense. Is about understanding and experience that guide the person to make the judgment and generate proper decision. Let’s think about next statement for a moment, is it at all time our common sense are always same? I am sure most of the time is not common.Therefore, the thought of safety is a common sense should not always be the judgment of our decision making. Let it be senses that are commonly belief, safety is part of us and not other way. Here are some thought that we should have in ensuring our decision is guided with sufficient understanding or knowledge and experience that a person or a group have:1. As a person that values safety as part of his/her value, concept of knowledge based safety shall be a part of his/her working life. Acquire consistence knowledge based safety that can make a person a better perspective of how to prevent of accident at his/her area.2. Seeking opinion(s) if your guts feel said is not a common and unsafe.3. Never make assumption that safety is everyone common sense – good to test it.4. Most of things we do can not be put in writing as procedure. If we want to have all we do in writing as part of the procedure it will not allow us to have a “space” for us to move and it will make us similar to a robot that do thing as per program and instruction.5. Don’t lay your decision as dead end where any issue is common sense and do some check and balance.6. Stop and think deeply prior to make any decision and always challenge the common thought/sense. As Jet Li said in his latest Fearless movie that “the most fearless enemy is within you”.7. Remember to “Take Two” – think, act, knowledge and evaluate for 2 minutes on each activity /decision to be made before you do it.Finally I personally believe if we have our basic right nothing could dictate our judgment in making our decision.taswa