Two different crews. Same type of near-miss. Two completely different outcomes.

What happens after something goes wrong on your crew determines whether it happens again. One crew had a member open the wrong switch. Two switches in close proximity, numbers one digit apart. Honest mistake. The company wrote him up and pulled him off the job.

Three months later, another crew member on that same team made the same mistake. This time he stayed quiet and corrected it on his own. He remembered what happened to the last guy.

A different company had the same near-miss. But their company brought the crew together to understand what happened, not to punish. They found out the switch numbering at that location had confused multiple crews. They re-labeled the switches and added a verification step. That crew got better. The first crew just got scared.

At today's tailboard, ask yourself one question. If someone on your crew made an honest mistake today, would they tell you about it? If the answer is not an immediate yes, that is the conversation that needs to happen.

Blame shuts people down. Accountability opens them up.

Go deeper Thursday. The full edition drops this week.

Which crew does yours look more like right now? Be honest.

— Lito Wilkins