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Carefully, carefully, carefully
Construction workers operate a power shovel high-up on the hillside. 99.10.05/ Temperature: 4C/ Weather: Overcast/Wind Direction: SE
Start: Karikachi Highland/Latitude: 43 09 53 N/ Longitude: 142 48 22E Destination:Tomamu/Latitude: 43 02 57 N/Longitude: 142 38 47 E
Distance Traveled: 26 kmThe mist from my breath hints that winter is coming soon.Leaving the fields of Tokachi, my chilled feet carried me up over KarikachiPass. To the southeast the mist lingering over the Takachi plane lookedlike the ocean.
From early morning I stumbled upon quite an interesting work scene. In the U.S. I used to stretch in a group for gym class and sports, but it was a new experience for me to stretch with roadside construction workers and listen in on their morning brief.
Seven thirty A.M. rolled around and I found myself at a roadside construction site, where the crew was preparing for the day's work. Construction hazard signs boxed off the bulldozers and the temporary on-site office. A cassette player sounded out the Japanese radio warm-up song .
The entire crew and myself went through the routine of reaching for the sky, touching our toes, and twisting our trunks. The crew members being veteran radio stretchers, I imitated them to keep in sync.
Following the short warm-up, the on-site manager began the morning's brief.
The manager quickly explained the day's routine and spent time discussing safety issues. "What safety issues do we have today?" he asked his crew. "The path for the bulldozer is very narrow. We need to be cautious with the bulldozer and careful when passing it on foot," said one of the workers. Another commented "Those working up-high need to be careful not to drop anything or cause anything to fall." "Just when we are most comfortable we get careless and accidents occur,"said the manager. Everyone nodded.
Water flows in a new irrigation ditch alongside a small road off of route As the meeting came to an end, the crew members put out their index ingers and repeated "Let's work carefully" three times, all raising their fingers the third time around. The daily ritual complete the crew dispersed to their working posts.
"Every morning we gather to stretch, review the days work, and discuss possible dangers," said on-site manager MIZUMOTO Toshiyuki. "Working in such a dangerous place, safety is our main concern. Our daily meetings is one way we prevent accidents."
Group meetings similar to this are often used to describe Japan as group oriented.
Such meetings may indicate group orientation, but what I saw this morning seemed simply to be a very rational way of taking precaution. Though such a daily routine may seem tedious, it allows crew members to meet face to face and warm-up together, as well as to share on-site dangers with each other before work starts.
Since this journey has started there has been talk about the importance of what is normal in our daily lives (see report #09). Today as well, I was able to catch a glimpse of the importance of daily practice. I came across what may be a clever innovation to ensure safety.
Greg
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