Managing the fear
by Bernard McGrath, Inspection Validation Centre

It seemed a good idea at the time: a chance to share a new experience with my young lads; to have some fun; to do something I would have been too embarrassed to do on my own as an adult. So we bought the tickets and got into the car. I sat in the middle with the boys either side. I was having great fun until the wheel reached the top. The car tipped forward before falling back on the descent. That tip was enough to make us slide forward in the seat and I had visions of one of the boys taking the quick route down. I put my arms around them and braced my feet on the bottom of the car ready for the next transit over the top. The boys were under strict instructions to hold onto the bar which ran across the front to hold us in.

Only then I looked at the fitting where the bar fixed to the car. It was shaped like a three-leafed clover with screws through the centre of each leaf. What immediately caught my eye were the three old rusty screw holds, which were present between each leaf. At some time the fitting had become so loose that it had been necessary to rotate it through 60° and re-fix it. So, at the next transit over the top I was rigid, trying to stop myself moving on the seat, whilst holding on to the boys, not just to stop them slipping but to minimise the pressure on the bar. Luckily, the boys were oblivious to my concerns. They loved every minute of the ride and wanted to go back on immediately. I am not exaggerating when I say it is probably the only time I have experienced shear physical terror.

The results of the PANI 3 project were presented at the results seminar on 25 July 2007. No, they didn't induce physical terror – you'll see the link in a minute. One (yes there are more than one!) interesting aspect of the results is the correlation between personality traits and ultrasonic performance. The results showed that better operator performance was associated with lower scores on the personality scales measuring  Cautiousness (risk aversion) and Original Thinking (laterality of thought).

There is some logic to these results. In NDT we want operators who will be content to apply a procedure in the prescribed manner. We don't want the operator to think: "I did it this way yesterday, I'll do it a different way today". NDT is a safety activity. We don't want operators to take unnecessary risks. As a group, the operators who participated in the PANI study scored higher than the general population on cautiousness. So those who had lower scores on cautiousness are likely to be near to average of general population. We don't want risk-takers but we all know that being over-cautious can affect our performance in any activity.

These results generated a lot of discussion but they also raised the question of what do we do with them? How does the NDT profession respond to them? That's where fear comes in. When we mention fear we tend to think of the fear I experienced on the big (not just big, it was massive!) fairground wheel. This might have been the one occasion I have felt this sort of fear but like most people my daily life is influenced by many minor fears. Fear of saying the wrong thing, fear of making a mistake, fear of making a fool of myself, fear of someone's reaction. It is this fear we must address if both NDT operators and NDT management are going to take benefit from the PANI 3 results.

Also, in the PANI 3 report to be published at the end of September, the qualities of the ideal operator are listed. First amongst them is Integrity, described as the confidence to say "I don't know". But this needs the operators to be free from fear of what may happen to them if they do say "I don't know", or "I would like a second opinion", or "I can follow this procedure but I would like a break by doing a variety of tasks". The management need to free themselves of the fear of what the client may say if an operator honestly says he can't concentrate any longer to sufficiently complete the job at the end of a long shift. Or the fear that if an operator asks for help today, he will not be up to the next job. Or the fear that they may not be able to manage an operator who is honest with them.

Finally, the profession as a whole needs to be fearless in the promotion of good, reliable NDT and all that this entails. Especially on fairgrounds!

Please note that the views expressed in this column are the author's own personal ramblings for the purpose of encouraging discussion within the NDT Newspaper. They do not represent the views of the IVC, Serco Assurance or the HSE who funded the PANI projects.

Letters can be mailed to The Editor, NDT News, Newton Building, St George's Avenue, Northampton NN2 6JB. Fax: 01604 89 3861; E-mail: ndtnews@bindt.org
or e-mail Bernard McGrath direct at Bernard.McGrath@sercoassurance.com