Matching People, Task and Conditions

Before a job starts, a supervisor makes three judgements that determine most of its risk.

The three

• Is the task understood? Not just the outcome — the method, the isolations, the sequence, the tools, and what "finished" looks like.
• Are these the right people? Competence for this task, not a similar one; currency, not a certificate from four years ago; and fitness — fatigue, health, medication, personal disruption.
• Are the conditions right? Weather, light, access, other work in the area, equipment availability, and whether the plant is in the state the plan assumed.

When one of the three fails

The temptation is to compensate — a less experienced crew supervised more closely, a marginal method with extra care. Sometimes that is legitimate. But the compensation must be explicit, resourced and stated to the crew, not quietly assumed. An unstated compensation is just a gap.

"He will be fine, I will keep an eye on him" is a plan only if you can actually be there, continuously, and are not also doing three other things.