Canadian Occupational Safety

23 2019 APRIL/MAY "It's sort of garbage in, garbage out. If everyone is calling something differ- ent, we will never be able to see there is a common thread. But once every- one starts calling it the same thing, we can do much better analytics on it and realize it's a problem." The main reason why visual literacy is a learned skill is that indi- viduals have many visual biases. There is so much visual data that is consumed at any given moment that individuals filter the information and only see what they deem to be important. When we look at some- thing, we may see as little as 10 per cent and the brain is filling in the rest based on our personal experiences, says Pontsler. Dony likens it to completing your morning routine. "When you pour your first cup of coffee, you recognize by shape you have a coffee mug that you pulled out of the cupboard and you are pour- ing coffee into it, but probably aren't taking in 100 per cent of what that mug looks like, its shape, it's com- position. If there's a logo on it, you might not remember what it is when you turn away from it," he says. Individuals need to be aware of visual bias and use a step-by-step procedure to visually process a scene. Pontsler recommends taking in the big picture before zooming in on individual details. Each element of art — line, shape, colour, texture and space — should be considered during this phase. In the safety context, individuals can look for things like horizontal or curvy lines, for example. "Maybe they see a straight line and they noticed the slip, trip and fall hazard," says Smith. "Normally they would not have seen that because they were focused on other things in their visual field, but by applying those principles, it allowed that to pop out for them." Cummins is hoping the improve- ments in risk identification will allow the company to see an injury reduc- tion over time. Visual literacy is also very useful for incident investigations. It fosters observation skills and helps workers learn how to properly observe the area or piece of equipment where an inci- dent occurred in order to figure out what went wrong. "By being able to see things more completely, you can do a better job of actually understanding what hap- pened," says Pontsler. "After an incident occurs, it's not unusual to hear some- one say, 'You know, we have walked by that a hundred times — or for 10 years — and we just never saw it.'" Visual literacy can accelerate the desire to complete non-routine inves- tigations, says Larry Masotti, director of strategic relationships at Workplace Safety and Prevention Services in Mis- sissauga, Ont. "When you are more skilled in per- ceiving and seeing more diligently, I think there's a certain excitement in 'Let's go see what else we can improve in our plant or our office' because now (they) know how to look, how to break it down." Workers will also feel empowered to take the time needed to identify hazards correctly under this new approach, Masotti adds. "Things have only gotten faster, so we make some assumptions because we have to get there quicker, but if we have license in our organizational culture to say, 'Hey, calm down, do it right, do it thoroughly and we value when you identify a hazard or a pos- sible risk,' I think it would increase the importance and the relevance of non-routine." In the case of upset conditions, anytime something goes wrong — whether it be process, mechanical or people-related — visual literacy allows workers to look at the situa- tion through a new lens and a holistic point of view, Masotti says. Another application for visual lit- eracy is toolbox talks. Pontsler works with many utility companies and visual literacy skills help them to be more "effective in a dynamic way," rec- ognizing hazards as they are changing. Another benefit of visual literacy is that it provides a common vocabulary. Workers learn how to describe hazards in the same way, which increases the quality of hazard reporting and inci- dent investigations and provides the organization with more opportunity for analysis, says John Dony, director of the Campbell Institute. that's fine, such as a bracket on a shelf. Or maybe they see not-a-straight line and that's not OK. Maybe it's a cord running across the floor that has a loop standing up and could be a trip hazard," Pontsler suggests. Workers can use the element of space to determine if there is enough room to safely execute a mainte- nance task, or look at colours to find a hazard. For example, if there is a black organic shape on the floor, it might be an oil spill. TRAINING If you're looking to train your workers in visual literacy, consider starting with the back-to-back drawing exercise that I participated in at the NSC confer- ence. It helps workers hone their visual vocabulary and further understand the Visual literacy allows workers to look at the situation through a new lens and a holistic point of view. concept of visual biases. Another useful exercise is to take a photo of the workplace, enlarge it and have workers observe and analyze the photo — something Masotti did with an automotive company. He took photos of the company's three differ- ent plants and had workers analyze photos from opposite plants. "It was one of the greatest learning experiences they had had because they were looking at something they hadn't seen before and they were instructing their colleagues at another physical location about what they saw, and it worked very well," says Masotti. "You will see things that I may not or that I have seen so many times it doesn't even register." Another exercise that Dony recom- mends is to cut up a photo of an art work into several puzzle pieces and divide the room into small groups. Give each group two or three puzzle pieces and ask them to form an inter- pretation of what is going on in the full picture. Then, each group pairs up with another, so they now have five or six puzzle pieces, and they are asked to again infer what the com- plete scene entails. "Chances are they'll have new interpretations of the larger scene," says Dony. You can keep bringing groups together and asking them to repeat the exercise. At the end, you will reveal the entire image and debrief with the group as to the lesson they hopefully learned: It's problematic to make assumptions based on limited information. "What we often find at the EHS © 2019 Thomson Reuters Canada Limited TR706204-NK Available Risk-Free for 30 Days Online: store.thomsonreuters.ca Call Toll-Free: 1-800-387-5164 | In Toronto: 416-609-3800 Your responsibility to ensure compliance has never been more critical New Edition Pocket Ontario OH&S Act & Regulations 2019 – Consolidated Edition Your peers rely on this bestselling pocket resource for invaluable guidance on workplace safety law. From preparing job hazard analyses and creating safety training programs to performing violence risk assessments, this edition will help your organization meet all your OHSA obligations under the new changes. To see what's new, visit store.thomsonreuters.ca/pocket-ohs. The eBook* version is available through your web browser, or can be downloaded to your computer, iPad, or Android tablet. Learn more at store.thomsonreuters.ca/proview *Not available to trade bookstores, third-party distributors, and academic institutions. Order # L7798-9096-65203 $24.95 Softcover approx. 1140 pages April 2019 978-0-7798-9096-5 Also available in French. Call for details. Also available Large format edition with tabs Order # L7798-9098-65203 $24.95 Softcover approx. 820 pages April 2019 978-0-7798-9098-9 Shipping and handling are extra. Price(s) subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes

• Cover