Just hit 500 hours on my current job site without a single lost time incident.

Our crew has been on this power plant retrofit in Gary for about six months now. The foreman put up a whiteboard in the break trailer to track it. We all signed off on the safety plan, but honestly, I thought we'd have a slip or a minor burn by week three. The place is a maze of old pipe and new weld points. Yesterday, the super came by, circled the 500, and bought everyone lunch. It's not about the free food, though. It's the first time I've been on a job that long where everyone, from the new apprentices to the old hands, actually watched out for each other every single day. Makes you realize a good safety culture isn't just rules on paper. What's the longest stretch you guys have gone on a tough site without an incident?

3 comments

3 Comments

keithhall16d ago

Reminds me of a buddy who worked a clean site for almost two years. They got a big safety bonus and the next week, a guy got his hand crushed in a press because everyone got sloppy. It's exactly what @felix147 said, that number makes you stop seeing the danger right in front of you. The streak isn't a shield, it's just a count of days you got lucky while doing things right.

felix14724d ago

Our refinery turnaround in Texas went 18 months clean until the last week. A veteran pipefitter got complacent, skipped a lockout step on a steam line. Third degree burns and a shattered wrist. That whiteboard number just makes people blind to the real risk. You start trusting the streak more than the procedure.

patel.jordan24d ago

See this everywhere now, not just in plants. People hit a green light streak driving home and stop checking the cross street. A team wins a few games and forgets the basics. That number on the board tricks the mind into feeling safe, like the past success builds a shield. It makes the routine steps feel pointless right up until they're the only thing that matters.