When to Call a Time-Out!

So, when might someone need to stop the job? When should someone call a Time-Out? There are many variables involved and thousands of different situations that Time-Out can be utilized.

Some examples are when you see an at-risk behavior, when someone doesn’t fully understand or feel comfortable proceeding. Sometimes it is not even about safety. A job is not going well and we need to step back and rethink how we should proceed. If it doesn’t look right or feel right, then call a Time-Out.

Most of us at some point have experienced a gut feeling. You can’t quite put your finger on it but it just doesn’t seem right. Call Time-Out! While teaching a class, I was asked “is a gut feeling like a sixth sense?”. Before I could answer, a roustabout stepped up and said, “It’s really a whole lot of information we have in our head from our past experience and training that we just can’t put our finger on at that exact time” (these guys never cease to amaze me).

It has been my personal experience that gut feelings are deserving of a Time-Out.

This is an excerpt from my book ‘Commit to Safe and Efficient Operations’ you can get a copy here: https://bit.ly/3sQ45xM

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