S11Ep8 Story Series: Turning the Tide: Deric Ostrum's Vacation Rescue

Not many people are thinking about safety while they're on vacation—luckily for one traveler, they were on board a cruise ship with SafeStart Consultant Deric Ostrum. Hear him recall how he prevented an incident for someone else on a cruise ship and what you can learn from this near miss.

Host: Tim Page-Bottorff
Guest: Deric Ostrum

Transcript

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Tim Page-Bottorff 0:07

Hey , welcome back to Safe Talk with Safe Start . I am Tim Page-Bottorff , and joining me today is fellow consultant and fellow veteran , Marine , who just happens to be a real close friend of mine , Deric Ostrum . Deric , welcome back to the podcast , my friend .

Deric Ostrum 0:20

Well , it's good to talk to you again , Tim . It's always good to be hanging out with other Marines .

Tim Page-Bottorff 0:26

Yeah , no doubt . I appreciate you taking the time . So let's take a moment just to kind of rewind and remind everyone of how our story series works . Deric's going to share a story with us , then we're going to hit that pause button and you discuss the states , the errors and the critical error reduction techniques or CERTs , and don't forget the important question of how it could have been worse . So with that all said , Deric the floor is all yours , good sir .

Deric Ostrum 0:54

Thanks , Tim . This story , it's a prevention type of story . I certainly used my Safe Start skills and preventing something bad from happening , but this actually happened on our vacation while I was on a cruise . It was actually the first cruise I've ever been on first and only one so far . But during the trip, we were on the boat and we were lounging around the swimming pool area and just having a good time . It was early in the morning and not a lot of people were there , but what I saw was they have these mats that lay around the pool , these blue rubber mats that prevent slips , trips and falls . Right , it helps you not slipping on the wet pool area floor and so on . But one of these mats had buckled up and it was a trip hazard .

Deric Ostrum 1:43

I'm sitting there , I'm thinking , oh my gosh , somebody's going to trip and fall on this thing right in front of us . My wife Lori , she's both . She's in safety , like I am , and we both saw it and I thought , man , I need to do something about this because I don't want to see someone fall right in front of us . It was . You know , we were getting ready to get off the ship tomorrow and I thought there's got to be something . I'm not going to wait for someone to trip over this huge tripping hazard and when I saw it , there was actually someone walking . This woman was walking by and carrying a drink and she was not looking where she was going . I can't remember if she was looking at her phone , but she was walking right towards the trip hazard and I jumped up and it was one that's like 20 foot long , so I had enough time , but I got up quickly enough and went over and I grabbed the end of the mat and quickly yanked it , which flattened it out and eliminated the trip hazard . She saw it what I was doing , but she didn't know that I pulled the rug . She thought something else , but she was . She looked very confused as to why I was pulling on the mat , but I told her . I said there was a trip hazard , it was buckled up and you were going to trip and she was so gracious and so very thankful that I did that .

Deric Ostrum 2:57

Meanwhile , my father-in-law , who's an Army veteran so we're always at each other for being Army and Marines he's actually a retired police officer from Orlando PD and a detective and homicide . You've seen a lot of crazy things in his life . But he was laughing at me and he said I would have waited for her to trip and fall , then we could have had a good laugh . And I thought , yeah , it would have been a funny laugh , but somebody would have been hurt .

Deric Ostrum 3:27

And I thought we're on vacation and sometimes it is good to turn off the work switch when you don't have to be at work , turn off your phone , don't look at your computer or emails . But when it comes to safety I've been in safety for over 20 years and that switch just doesn't get turned off . And I thought , even on vacation , nobody deserves to get hurt . So I told him I said , yeah , it would have been hilarious , but what if it was an older person , maybe someone who isn't as agile , who could have tripped and fallen and gotten hurt , maybe broke a bone or something , landing on their wrists ? And I could tell he was thinking about it . And then I said wait a minute , what if Lori , my wife , your daughter , tripped over and she fell ? And he kind of nodded and he said , yeah , I guess you're right . So that was the story . It was kind of interesting how it happened .

Tim Page-Bottorff 4:21

Thank you for sharing that story . Okay , everybody the listeners , specifically if this is a very specific place for you to have your group discussion so I just want you to center focus in on Deric's father-in-law and , of course , the young lady that Deric intervened on for her behalf , but don't forget to talk about the CERTs Deric used and , of course , how it could have been worse . So Deric and I will be right here when you're done and we'll wrap things up . So go ahead and hit that pause button and we'll be right back with you . Okay , we're back . So , Deric , why don't you go ahead and tell us what CERT or CERTs you used right there at that moment ?

Deric Ostrum 5:01

Well , for me, I think this is an example of self-triggering , and not specifically on a state , but hazardous energy or perhaps even a hazardous situation . And then certainly working on habits , because I was looking for things that could cause someone else to fall . I mean , I was using the swimming pool too and I was walking around that area and if I had seen it before a trip could have happened . Then , certainly , working on habits , moving my eyes first , before I moved my hands , feet , body or car , and then looking at this , literally looking at others , because I've seen other people trip and fall before , and there's been kids running around that pool and people do have a higher risk of a slip , trip or fall in a pool-like area , and so my awareness was a little bit heightened and I was looking for , maybe , others and learning from their mistakes . So in that example , I could think of three CERTs that came to mind and obviously , like it had so many times , SafeStart helped .

Tim Page-Bottorff 6:08

Yeah , that's great that you brought that up Three very specific critical error reduction techniques . And it's amazing that you can get so much out of watching or viewing others and I'm not suggesting that you were judging her , you were just observing her . And so let's kind of just start with the young lady here . What about states and errors for her ?

Deric Ostrum 6:28

Well , I wasn't in her mind . I don't know exactly what was going on , but watching her walk and holding the drink and I could see that her eyes were not on where she was walking I'm going to have to say complacency a bit . We had been on the ship for several days . At this point she certainly wasn't looking for anything to hurt her . I mean , how would you get hurt on vacation ?

Deric Ostrum 6:51

And perhaps in that moment , you know , maybe excited to get back to her seat , she wasn't thinking about , in my opinion , she probably wasn't thinking about balance or losing her traction or grip or losing , you know , a fall of that type . But you know seeing a trip hazard and removing it , whether it's a hose laying in the yard or in the garage at home or in the sidewalk where the kids come in and out of the house , or at work , where there are always multiple trip hazards when we talk about manufacturing . I think anybody who wants to keep themselves and others safe is going to find those and eliminate them . But if I had to say Tim , I would say complacency was the biggest state that she was dealing with at that time .

Tim Page-Bottorff 7:36

Yeah , that's good , and a little bit of maybe in mind not on task . Who knows what her mind was off , but you said it right , you're not in her mind , so you couldn't determine that and it's a great point that you're brought up to . If you see something wrong , then do something about it or say something about it . That's really good kind of thing for our listeners to take heed and I tell you that's one of those great examples that a safety professional can impress upon . But here at SafeStart we also say if you see something , say something , do something . We're all kind of qualified to straighten a rug or mat , I think , and based on your story , I mean I do it all the time . But if you think you're not qualified , like say , you discover a short in a wiring schematic or even an electrical work , I would secure that by locking out the equipment and then contacting maybe the maintenance right away and letting them know . But , Deric , let's do it real quickly , just to skip back to the ship . So how could this situation be worse ?

Deric Ostrum 8:32

Well , the trip hazard was right there , and if she had hit it and went down , she had a drink in her hand . I know the cups are plastic , but if that would have been something that she had landed on in addition to landing on the hard floor around the pool , it could have certainly been worse . It could have been broken bones . Like I said , there are folks on cruises that might be a bit older , without the reflexes or the quick reflexes that we may have when we're younger . So , and depending on how you land , and if you had the ability to catch your balance , should you lose your balance , I think that could have ended really bad . And again , I know there's a medical on a ship , but who wants to spend vacation , you know , popping pain pills or laying in their bed waiting to get back home , only to go to their own doctor and get a cast or surgery or something like that . So we were very lucky that no one had an accident , but boy , it could have happened in a split second .

Tim Page-Bottorff 9:34

That's true , that's true . Thank you for bringing that point home . All right , so now let's get on to your father-in-law .

Deric Ostrum 9:41

Nice , try . I plead a fifth on that one . He might listen to this .

Tim Page-Bottorff 9:46

All right , I got it . Now you're learning , I think , young Padawan ! Deric personally , thank you . Thank you very much for sharing your story . It allows us all to learn vicariously and it mostly comes from other storytellers' vicarious experiences , their experiences themselves . So , and also just personally , thank you so much for being here today .

Deric Ostrum 10:07

It's always a pleasure , Tim . Thank you for inviting me .

Tim Page-Bottorff 10:11

Yeah , you bet , man , I would have you over and over and over again , and so thank you also for all of our listeners for joining us today , and on behalf of Deric , myself and the entire Safe Talk team for reminding all of us . There is a tremendous advantage of watching out for others and , who knows , you may prevent an accident like Deric did . I'm Tim Page-Bottorff for Safe Talk with Safe Start . Until next time , stay safe and we'll see you down the road .