David+Tsai+RP+Post+2

**Research Questions of the Day** After reading more about mistakes (between giving directions on I-684 and figuring out how to get online so that I could write this), I have developed my potential research questions a bit further. I know that I originally wanted to explore the realm of unconsciousness, but it is starting to seem that I am more interested in things that are out of a person’s control. I understand that some of these may be fuzzy questions that have no simple answers. In the end, my answers to these questions will boil down to an extended definition of a mistake. A Source  I came across a source of an unlikely origin — the website of a paint manufacturer. When I stumbled upon their corporate safety tutorial, however, I felt that it could provide an example of measures taken to prevent accidents, which links to one of my questions above. Interestingly enough, the tone of the text suggests that the company published the document not because it wanted to but because it had to; it sounds like someone typed it out in one shot. It was just something that had to be done. The [|source] is titled Corporate Safety Introduction and Commitment and was published by Gemini Coatings, Inc. I first accessed the source on Friday, May 23, 2014 on a complimentary access public internet terminal at a hotel in Massachusetts. Below is a SOAPSTone of the source: The source basically says to use common sense; if something can be reasonably anticipated to cause harm, don’t do it. Try to handle things in a manner that ensures the safety of yourself and others. Be aware and pay attention to your surroundings so that you know when something has gone wrong. Finally, plan ahead before executing actions. The main point of the memo is that while management may train employees to perform their jobs safely, it is up to the worker to apply that training and watch for his or her own safety in the environment. Management wishes to push responsibility to the employee. I am not highly persuaded by the author’s treatment of the topic because it simply reiterates ideas that fall under common sense in order to defer accountability for those ideas. There are, however, a couple of key sentences that will likely be worth citing when I share my research findings:
 * How do mistakes affect the economy?
 * How can accidents be prevented?
 * What measures have already been put in place to prevent accidents and/or mistakes?
 * Should people be penalized for making mistakes?
 * = S ||< Safety in the industry ||
 * = O ||< Managers need to keep workers safe ||
 * = A ||< Employees of Gemini Coatings, Inc. ||
 * = P ||< To inform workers of possible dangers in the workplace ||
 * = S ||< That guy who is hired to say what management does not want to say ||
 * = Tone ||< Quite forced and unnatural ||
 * “Therefore, it is a condition of your employment that you observe all safety rules.”
 * “Realize that accidents can happen to you, not just to someone else.”
 * “Safety is always a conscious choice.”
 * “An accident is defined as an unfortunate event…”
 * “For an unplanned or unforeseen event to take place there has to be potential!”