I've started doing this re wearing safety glasses when using a power saw for hobby projects. Cutting things with the saw is only a small part of the overall work I'm doing, so I don't like to leave the glasses on the whole time. I realized there's a good chance I'd forget to put them back on when I needed to cut something new.<p>So every time, before I pull the trigger on the saw, I now touch the side of the safety glasses with my free hand and say out loud, "glasses on."<p>It felt super goofy at first, but after a while the safety check became part of the cadence and rhythm of turning on the saw. I feel much less likely to get a shard of wood or aluminum in my eye as long as I keep it up.
When I fly and go through the checklists, I call out the setting and touch the pertinent item ("Fuel Selector - BOTH"), and sometimes even flip it to the other position and back ("Alternate Static Air - [move to on, then back to] OFF").<p>Benefits:<p>* makes it more likely that I actually check, rather than just see what I expect to be the case<p>* co-pilot (or passengers!) can follow and verify what I'm doing<p>* for rarely used items (such as the alternate static air) it makes sure that I know where it is and don't have to fumble for it,<p>* I check how it "feels", so I could detect if something feels off (for example, throttle cables have occasionally broken loose from the control knob).<p>Several aircraft have come down just because crews "followed" the checklist, but didn't actually check.<p>* "After the aircraft was returned into service, the flight crew overlooked the pressurisation system state on three separate occasions: during the pre-flight procedure, the after-start check, and the after take-off check. During these checks, no one in the flight crew noticed the incorrect setting."<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522</a><p>* "The flight engineer was found to have failed to open the slat system bleed air valves as required on the pre-flight checklist."<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lufthansa_Flight_540" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lufthansa_Flight_540</a>
Brings to mind:
Why Japan’s Rail Workers Can’t Stop Pointing at Things
A seemingly silly gesture is done for the sake of safety.
BY ALLAN RICHARZ MARCH 29, 2017
<a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-and-calling-japan-trains" rel="nofollow">https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pointing-and-calling-j...</a><p>April 2018 HN discussion: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14011793" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14011793</a>
The nuclear industry has something very similar, and in my experience it's extremely effective. It also gives anyone else in the space with you a chance to speak up if you're about to do something wrong.
Not being a UX/ergonomics buff, I wonder how something like this might be employed in software UIs, particularly those controlling/monitoring safety-critical systems.<p>Any UX experts in the house?
This reminds me of somthing I tend to do when paring on an ops-like task. I will point and speek the resource name that I am about to delete or CMD I am about to run and get my pair to conferm before proceeding. Honestly makes tasks (espishaly production tasks) a lot less nerve racking. Would recommend it.
I do this after eating dinner, before going to bed. I do it for the door locks of the house, the knobs/dials of the stove, the gas valve behind the stove, the fridge door (giving it a push instead of pointing at it), the sink (to make sure it's clear of dishes), the windows.<p>I also do it for my car locks and windows to make sure they're closed and locked before leaving it. I'll make a point of it to touch the windows at the top edge and pull the handles.
Site looks like it's down. Text-only Google cache version: <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hPbnMAa-MpsJ:https://www.flightsafetyaustralia.com/2018/01/point-it-call-it-get-it-right/&client=safari&hl=en&gl=uk&strip=1&vwsrc=0" rel="nofollow">http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hPbnMAa...</a>
This reminds me of lifeguards, which seem to have changed their techniques since I was a kid.<p>They seem to point at one end of the pool and move their finger back and forth to the othe end of the pool.
Something a bit like this is practiced by NYC subway conductors: <a href="https://youtu.be/i9jIsxQNz0M" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/i9jIsxQNz0M</a>