Analyzing an event using ACTS

Let’s use the four parts of People-Based Safety, Acting, Coaching, Thinking and Seeing, to analyze an event that caused serious injury:

When a customer at a grocery store pulled a six-pack of beer off the top shelf, the whole display began to fall and a woman slipped on floor and cut her head.

Acting: The employees who set up the display failed to pinpoint the critical actions they needed to avoid injury. They arranged the six packs so high, they were unstable.

Coaching: If other workers had observed the employees setting up the display, they could have warned them of the danger.

Thinking: They employees who built the display were unaware of their self-talk, which led them to take risky actions. Comments like “We’ve got to hurry up, the store’s about to open” suggest poor thinking that causes accidents.

Seeing: The employees who built the display should have seen how dangerous the display was. They didn’t apply the appropriate seeing skills or underestimated the risk they saw.