Stop and check
Last week, there was another deadly accident in Korea. Twenty-three poor souls died unnecessarily in a battery factory fire in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. The nation is once again “ashamed.” This follows a long list of recent accidents and tragedies, many of which might have been avoided by taking one simple step — stop and check.
There were so many times I’ve had work done in Korea and had to call the laborer back, or take my car or bike or phone back, to have the job completed, because they didn’t stop and check.
My bicycle: On two separate occasions, I had to return to the shop because important fasteners had not been tightened properly. Literally, on both occasions, it was because of the wheel nuts. Twice. The same person, at the same shop. Two years apart. Both times, he didn’t stop and check.
Washing machine: A repair personnel came to fix a broken washing machine. The repair itself was mostly fine, except that when I ran the first load of laundry, the veranda flooded. Why? Because the drainage pipe that needed to be pushed into the drain behind the washing machine hadn’t been inserted into the said drain, and the gray water that was supposed to quietly disappear ended up going everywhere. It took me, a complete amateur, maybe 30 seconds to notice and fix the problem. Anyone could have done it. I just slotted the plastic pipe back into the drain. Why didn’t he? A simple stop and check by him after he’d finished his job would have avoided this.
My car: On two separate occasions, I’ve had to take my car back to two different garages because of incomplete, unchecked work. The first time, they left a trim panel off the inside of a door, which should have been refitted, and on another more recent occasion at a different garage, they didn’t reconnect the electronics in the center console, so the stereo, heater controls, among others, were all not working. I noticed the stereo, etc., weren’t working within 50 meters of leaving the garage. Why didn’t they? Because they didn’t stop and check.
Cellphone: My cellphone company’s official repair center didn’t refit the volume rocker switch on the side of the phone. I didn’t notice this until I was on the bus home. I had to travel back to the store the next day to have the switch refitted. They were full of needless apologies, needless because the technician simply didn’t stop and check that the job was properly completed.
Mistakes can be made anywhere, but if you have a culture – and Korea does – that seems to prioritize doing things quickly over doing things correctly, then mistakes, tragedies, accidents, disasters and fatalities like that in the factory last week, and so many others, will continue. You must stop and check, Korea. Accuracy — and doing things right — actually is more important than speed. And as long as you believe it isn’t, as long as you believe that moving on to the next job without checking that the current one is correctly completed, my return trips to garages and workshops, my mopping of verandas, my wobbly bicycle wheels and, much more importantly, those shame-inducing accidents and tragedies that bring you such heartache, will continue to occur. Stop. Check the job is done properly. Please.
Paul Wynne is a university professor in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.