There is no room for complacency when it comes to safety Published Jan. 18, 2008 By Steve Serrette 72nd Air Base Wing Safety Office TINKER AIR FORCE BASE -- A dictionary defines complacency as "self-satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual danger or deficiency." Numerous mishaps occur when personnel allow themselves to become complacent in everyday activities, both on and off the job. Everyday we have to work at it with the highest degree of awareness and attention. If we just stop and think for a moment, we can all come up with instances in our life where we have become complacent. Complacency happens to even the best of us, because we perform many functions on an almost continual and routine basis. Personal safety is not like a light switch you turn on or off. The personal safety switch must continuously be locked in the on position, both on and off the job. Just because we feel safe, does not mean we are safe. "Feeling safe all the time" could be one of the biggest threats to our well-being. A key to avoiding the complacency trap is to form "safety habits," which are performed over and over until they override your former unsafe behavior and thus ultimately become automatic. These habits include things such as, wearing gloves, safety glasses, proper foot wear and using seat belts. There is an old saying that familiarity breeds contempt. To paraphrase, familiarity does, in fact, breed complacency. Let's work and play in such a manner that we ensure we do not fall into the complacency trap.