Taking control
by Bernard McGrath, Inspection Validation Centre

It is the lot of any parent, who spends time watching their children partake in activities, to endure the wait whilst the child gets changed after the activity has finished. And if your child is like one of mine, then you will watch as all the other children come out and disappear, leaving you keeping a lonely vigil until finally your charge emerges. And it doesn't get any better as they get older. So I found myself, not so long ago, watching as a steady stream of students emerged from a pavilion: male, female, footballers, rugby players, hockey players. All dressed in a similar uniform of a dark-coloured hoody, emblazoned with the logo of their particular institution and the name of the sports club, and dark-coloured jeans. If I had any concerns about being able to identify my offspring in the midst of this congruous mass they were soon dispelled. Not only did he appear, as expected, among the stragglers but he was the only one wearing bright red jeans and a white top and stood out like a sore thumb!

Being, in the most part, a typical parent, of course I had to raise the unconformity of his choice of colour scheme with him afterwards. His reply has stuck with me since: "you can't be unhappy if you wear red trousers!". This got me thinking about how much we can take control over how we feel and how the pressure to conform either with convention or with the majority can remove that control with adverse affects.

Skipping is another example. Not skipping with a rope but hopping alternatively from leg to leg. At the risk of leaving myself open to ridicule, I have to confess that I like skipping. I will do it when warming up before a run, when I don’t think anyone is watching, or when warming down. Occasionally, I will do it when out walking just to see the look of horror on the face of the person I am walking with. Try it. Adults don’t skip – they are too mature. Children do but that is OK because they don't care what others think. But the key lesson is that you cannot skip and be angry, depressed or moody. If you skip, you become happy.

A similar effect was reported recently in the press. Listening to different music or sounds can change the way we perceive others. Listening to happy music or sounds such as crashing waves, crackling fires and birdsong makes you feel happy and also convinces you that other people are happy and contented. On the other hand, listening to gloomy songs or depressing sounds such as guns, whistling wind and industrial machinery can make you assume that everyone else is feeling down. So we can take control and undertake actions which will put us, and others, in the desired frame of mind for achieving whatever it is that we want to achieve. But do we? Do we do this at work? If not, why not?
 
The Japanese have a term, Poke-Yoke, which is applied in lean manufacturing processes to assist an equipment operator to avoid (yokeru) mistakes (poka). It is the deliberate action of looking at all the processes in a system where mistakes occur, and devising a method to prevent them from occurring. More broadly, the term can refer to any steps taken to restrict behaviour to prevent incorrect operation by a user.

It is probably best illustrated by a simple example. If you go out to the shops at lunchtime and buy food for your tea, which you then put in the work's fridge, how do you ensure that you do not go home without your purchases? Applying Poke-Yoke, you could put your car keys in the fridge with your food. It then becomes impossible for you go home without your tea. If your colleagues are as helpful as mine, then they might point out that in doing this someone else may not only take your food but also your car, or that you may forget you came in the car and go home on the bus without both. But I think you can get the point.

Poke-Yoke principles have been applied in NDT. Some automated data collection systems limit the number of settings that operators are able to change on site and different connectors are used so that plugs cannot be put into the wrong sockets. Probe-holders can be designed so that probes cannot be put into them the wrong way round. But these examples are aimed at equipment. What about the person? How can we apply the spirit of Poke-Yoke to our frame of mind and our work environment? What are the workplace equivalents of red trousers, skipping and upbeat music? This month I am only asking the questions. Maybe you can suggest some answers. But remember, as the American philosopher and psychologist William James said: "We don't laugh because we're happy – we're happy because we laugh".

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