As I write this, I’m in a foreign country.  This past Saturday I watched a guy trimming the top of a marble bathroom vanity with a grinding wheel.  As he ground away, his assistant stood nearby.  Neither wore any eye protection.  Fortunately, nobody got hurt.  Why did I even notice?  Because for years, the Health & Safety folks in the US have drilled us with the need for proper PPE.  It’s become ‘the way we do things’.  We’ve learned.  Consequently…far fewer people are getting hurt on the job.

Learning is critical to improving performance.  As we learn, we make changes, we get better, we get safer…we make fewer mistakes.  At PPI, we’re evolving the primary Error Elimination Tools.  We’ve added a few and set aside a couple, making for a much more robust set of barriers between you and making mistakes.

The new Tools are at the printer now, and will be ready for shipment by the end of May.  We’ll provide full information when we launch.  For now…here are the highlights:

• We’ve reordered the Tools, designating the first seven Tools in the handbook as “Fundamental Tools” (meaning that these are to be used all of the time).  The last eight Tools are designated as “Situational Tools” (meaning that these are to be used when appropriate, based upon the task being performed).

• If you did the math in the previous bullet, you’ve already figured out that there are now 15 Tools instead of 10 (yes, I know…but when you see them, you’ll see that they all belong).

• The newly added Fundamental Tools are:
  • Task Preview
  • Jobsite Review
  • Stop When Unsure

• The newly added Situational Tools are:
• Place Keeping
• Independent Verification
• Peer Coaching
• Flagging
• Post Job Review

In addition to these changes to the primary Error Elimination Tools, the revision to the User Guide will now also include a set of tools specifically for Front Line Supervisors, as well as a set of Tools for the Leadership Team.

Additional Tools News:

• We are about 75% complete with development of a set of Error Elimination Tools specifically for Engineers

• We will be developing a set of Tools for Medical following Tim’s upcoming visit/collaboration with the Mayo Clinic

• We will be developing a set of Tools specifically for Orthodontics Offices, to be complete and ready prior to Tim’s address to the New England Society of Orthodontists in October, 2007

• During the second half of 2007, we will be developing CBT and video training materials for the primary Error Elimination Tools

Here's a kick-in-the-rear piece of insight for you and your team:

Things are the way they are because they got that way.

You should now be asking, "Okay, so how do I figure out how things 'got that way'?"

Until now, such ability to break the chain of human error would have cost you tons of time and money, as well as (most likely), the services of expensive 'experts' who have done their best to keep these methods tight to their chests.

Our Performance Enhancement Matrix (PEM) has changed all of that. The PEM is an event and condition tracking database that allows you to quickly and easily input information. Moreover, the PEM allows you to easily identify trends and uncover hidden weaknesses that are causing mistakes. Click the link below and check it out.

Click here to learn more...