Pass it on
by Bernard McGrath, Inspection Validation Centre

There was a man who had one, possibly two children. I can't quite remember but it is not a crucial point. At least he had one child who offered to look after the school hamster over a holiday period. Unfortunately, the hamster was allowed to run around loose and a visiting child ran over it with a toy train and killed it. So the man went off to the pet shop to buy a replacement. As his children wanted a hamster of their own, he bought two. He soon found out that one of the new hamsters was a biter. It bit his children and drew blood. The man contacted the pet shop but the shop would not take the hamster back.

So, when the holidays were over, the man thought he would solve the problem of the biting hamster by sending it to the school. After a number of children had been bitten, the hamster was sent back to the man. The man could not bring himself to kill the hamster so he took it down to the local park and set it loose.

In the two paragraphs above I have told a story. It is not my story but one that I heard on the radio and I have passed on my recollection of it. I may not have related the facts exactly as they happened. But that is the advantage of story telling rather than reportage. A story can be retold and changed and still maintain its purpose. I think the story above is a good story but the best bit about it is that it doesn't end there. It continues:

The man happened to be a writer of a regular column in a national publication. So he wrote about his adventure with the hamsters. As a result, a major animal welfare organisation sent him a letter warning that his actions could be deemed to be cruelty and he could be subject to legal action, possibly leading to a fine or even a custodial sentence. This was considered to be an over-reaction and so the man appeared on a radio phone-in programme to relate the series of events and to generate public reaction. As you might expect, that reaction was divided: some people were aghast at the man’s actions in letting the poor hamster fend for itself amongst the fauna of the local park; others admitted to doing similar things when faced with small disruptive pets; a third group didn’t agree with his actions but thought the threat of legal action was over the top.

Like all good stories, this one is entertaining. It grabs the attention because you want to know what happens. Even now I would like to know what finally happened to the hamster! A story engages you and gets you thinking about different issues and different people will draw different conclusions depending on their views and opinions. And a key aspect of all good stories is that they carry lessons for us all, if we take the time to derive them.

The hamster story even carries lessons for NDT: (1) Difficult problems can be made easier to solve with the correct Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – the man's children could have safely handled the hamster without being bitten if he had bought them some protective gloves; (2) Some people are not suited to particular jobs – imagine if the man had been a zoo keeper – the local park would be full of dangerous animals!; (3) It is easy to overlook important information – whilst I was listening, no one mentioned that the man sent a biting hamster to the school where it was able to bite other people's unsuspecting children. It also carries a personal lesson for me – be careful what you write about in your column.

I fear that story telling is in decline. The opportunities for story telling are being lost. People do not gather together at meal times or tea breaks, both at work and at home, like they used to do. People no longer have the time to sit and listen and consider what has been said. Computer communication is replacing both the spoken and the written word and in doing so is reducing stories to a series of facts without the interaction, imagination and expression that would normally add to the telling.
So what? I hear you say. Stories are a powerful communication medium. They offer alternative ways of presenting information which can otherwise be dry and dull. Stories can be used to unite groups with a common bond or interest. They become the folklore of the group and they can pass on knowledge and experience from one generation to the next. In fact, they are the original knowledge management tool!
I have heard many NDT stories from a lot of NDT people who are good story tellers. I know a lot of you out there have some fascinating tales to tell. Do you think it would be worthwhile to capture these stories? Should we ask BINDT to see what could be done to gather and publish NDT stories? For an industry which is constrained from promoting its successes because they are inevitably some other companies' problem, stories could be a major way of passing on the importance of what we do.
Editor's note: Hear! Hear! £20 book token for the best original (and publishable!) NDT story – email to ndtnews@bindt.org

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, 1 Spencer Parade, Northampton NN1 5AA. Fax: 01604 231489; E-mail: ndtnews@bindt.org or e-mail Bernard McGrath direct at Bernard.McGrath@sercoassurance.com