Hi, Bryan McWhorter here from Safeopedia with another safety moment. Samurai style.
My first vocation in life was actually teaching self defense. I enjoy teaching self-defense at places like Kansas State University, Bethany College, St. John's Military School, and my own schools. And I found that really my vocation hasn't changed. I'm still teaching self-defense, but helping people to defend themselves against our work environment as opposed to a mugger.
And I would say if you're a safety professional, you're the same way. View yourself as a black belt in safety teaching others to protect themselves from the work environment.
So when it comes to safety, what can we learn from this samurai sword? There are actually two engineering controls in place right now on the sword to protect us. One is the guard that you'll see around the handle that protects a person's hand. And when the blade is not being used, then it's in the scabbard, which protects the person by covering the blade. Two engineering controls.
Now, standard work is also in place when it comes to actually using the sword so you don't cut yourself. When the sword is being returned to the scabbard, it is done by the samurai holding or the practitioner holding the scabbard and that way they don't have to actually watch as they put the sword away. They draw the top part against their hand, not the blade, and then it's easy to put it right back in without looking. In standard work and engineering controls before they learn the skill to handle it with an actual blade, the practitioner uses something called a bokken. So again, no danger of accidentally cutting themselves. Engineering controls and standard work in place.
Once again, if you are a safety professional, consider yourself a black belt in safety teaching others to protect themselves against their environment. With that thanks for watching and stay safe. I think in Japanese fashion, I'll go ahead and leave this via Ninja smoke bomb. Smoke bomb!! I'm still here. You can see me, can't you? Well, this is awkward.