Some people today will be lucky and others will not; that’s just the way of the world. However whilst we can’t ensure good luck; we can significantly impact the amount of luck we need. As Gary Player the golfer once said “isn’t it funny the harder I practice the luckier I seem to get”.

This attitude when taken into the way we consider risk can help to ensure that we start to stack the odds in our favour. If we train ourselves and our staff to behave safely then the risks of something going wrong will naturally reduce.

Of course you also have to ensure that you win over people’s hearts and minds to ensure a real difference is achieved; without this, people will continue to get hurt even when they know they shouldn’t be something in a certain way.

Sometimes the only thing to do is to look for a different approach to the way training is delivered; training where people can relate to the impact of what would it be like if something was to go wrong can work really well.

We often hear from people that bad things won’t happen to them because they are far too experienced; but this is just not true. Reading an article recently it was identified that fear provides adrenaline and alertness which directs our attention and focuses the mind. Where people rely solely on experience they will often rationalise this fear and will become comfortable with the risks they routinely face. Bringing a different perspective awakens them to what they have been overlooking for too long.

It well recognised that on average we can concentrate for a maximum of 55 minutes an hour when fit and alert; when people are tired, not feeling too well, stressed or otherwise occupied then this period is going to be reduced, sometimes significantly. Just ask yourself, has this ever been included in your risk assessments?

Clearly if we could design out all risks this would be the best solution; the problem is we can’t and where people are involved there is always a chance of something bad happening. What you have to do is make sure you practice often enough to get lucky (bring this risk down to as low as possible).