#defenceindepth — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

I used to have a sail boat. One of the most important #safety rules in sailing is "don't sail on a schedule".

What this means is that if you have a destination & a deadline, you will override safety signals (like weather) & travel in unsafe conditions due to deadline pressure. This is how serious accidents happen while sailing.

Planning for sailing puts an emphasis on having a checklist that includes having situational awareness of issues like boat condition, charts, & weather by explicitly checking the marine weather forecasts.

Also you have to be prepared to bail on your destination & schedule if the safety signals change. You have to know where your closest port is to seek shelter if a storm arises.

It occurred to me that the #airbornePrecautions equivalent is "don't be task focused on a deadline".

The need to get a task done by a deadline causes you to lose situational awareness, & accept risk that you would not otherwise accept if you thought your safety plan through ahead of time.

This is exacerbated by the total lack of a danger signal in society right now. No mitigations visible. Out of sight, out of mind.

This bit me yesterday getting a vaccination from an unmasked pharmacist in a small room. I took a risk I should not have, because I lost situational awareness under the drive to get the task done. I never would have accepted that risk in my pre-thought out safety plan. But it just popped up in the middle of the task, & I let it slide because I wasn't situationally aware.

Now, ofc I was wearing #P100 #elastomeric so the risk here is relative due to #DefenceInDepth. My event was ocular exposure during high water mark for community transmission, not being maskless. But it is not a risk I would have taken in a pre-thought through safety plan.
And that's the big deal now. Every little ordinary task needs a safety plan.

It's frustrating. It's exhausting.

When it goes wrong, when the safety signals change, when you get off plan, you have to be prepared to "bail". Halt a task, walk out, cancel, reschedule. Find a safe port in the new storm.

I should have refused entry with a maskless pharmacist. Cancelled, requested accommodation & rescheduled.

This is a kind of risk "velocitization" that happens. I am getting velocitized into one-way masking even during high #community #transmission periods. Everyone else but me unmasked is the new normal.

This is how accidents happen - a bunch of little issues leading to an unwanted, unplanned outcome.

#SARS2 #sarscov2 #COVID19 #riskManagement #risk