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

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.