HSE People - Health and Safety Community

The importance of having an up to date “Driving at Work Management System in place is getting crutial by the day as legislation dictates that we must protect our businesses from the few.

One of the biggest issues we face as human beings is our attitude to certain protocols in life, for instance how many times have we heard someone at work or within our business say;

“It’s not my job”        or       “It won’t happen to me”

It never ceases to amaze me at times that a large proportion of employees will pass the buck by assuming you are responsible when an incident happens. It is all too easy to lay the blame at somebody else’s doorstep and it could be yours if you are not careful, it’s called human conditioning. 

Health & Safety isn’t a sexy subject, and before you doze off, as it always happens when we talk about Health & Safety especially compounded with vehicles being a very emotive subject then I am onto a loser before I start!

We need to take a hard look at the management systems that we have in place, because, as the legislation gets tighter and resultant fines from breaches being like telephone numbers. Can we afford not to take action and be responsible 100% of the time whether that is from an employer, employee, sub contractor or volunteer perspective?

So how do you protect everyone in your business? The answer is easy; communicate with everyone in a manner that gets the message across, without alienating them or yourself into the bargain.

It is funny; when we use the word “communicate” we tend to clam up and are not sure where to start.

Get a pad and pen out and let me ask you; when someone whom you employ or engage to do work for you, drives on behalf of your organisation.  Do you see or think of areas that can eat into your profit? If so write them down and address it.

For instance a van livered up with your name pristine and proudly displayed and the driver is either doing something or a number of things all at the same time. Such as using a mobile phone, smoking, speeding, hand gestures or even parked irresponsibly. You may even class these as minor issues. But they can dent your reputation without you knowing about it until it is too late. Would you purchase food from a baker when the driver delivering the goods has been seen smoking in the cab?  or would you recommend a plumber, joiner or an electrician if they cut you up and started giving gestures out the window?, I know I wouldn’t and perhaps now I have maybe started you thinking.

No matter what business you are in and are using vehicles, you run the risk of lost sales revenue by the actions of a few. Now we all need sales to keep the business going it is our life blood.

Take speeding & mobile phone issues and a minimum 3 points on the drivers licence as a result, what will this do to your insurance renewal? The driver has a risk of losing their licence with totting up of points? What is your policy for reporting this?

With businesses going through difficult times, can you really afford to eat into what profit you may have?

Now let’s look at the worst case scenario and the driver has caused or is involved in an incident. If a fatality has occurred the police will treat it the same way as a murder and you better hope that you have a fully auditable management system in place to protect you which will stand up to close scrutiny.  

Examples above will have a cost; however fines for serious breaches could put you out of business unless you have money stashed under the mattress so to speak and you don’t need to own the vehicle.

What will the cost be if you have to replace an employee who was injured, died or even sent to prison because of the incident. Now I hear you say the dreaded words “That won’t happen to us” It could, how do you know as it only takes a lapse of concentration. Oh, and what about all the adverse publicity, fine and the time it drags out as it could be a few years before it is heard in court if you are deemed negligent.

Putting your house in order isn’t rocket science and you have three choices.

1.      Engage a company to help you install a proper management system.

This will allow you to get your house in order correctly using the expertise available.

2.      Do it yourself or have someone in your organisation do it.

Understanding what is required may eat into more resources than you realise and the person needs to be competent and have an understanding of what is required.

3.      Continue as you are.

This isn’t an option, if you have something in place get it reviewed, otherwise you may well be in a false position. If you are not sure what you have in place get it checked out now as it could be the best decision you have made.

These options have cost implications; the most expensive will only come to light when you have an incident. The big question is can you afford to take the chance? Safety isn’t a cost option, it is a necessary option as the:

“Unexpected will always happen when you least expect it too!”

Submitted at the request of Kevin Forbes - HSE People

It is twelve (12) months today since the accident that nearly claimed my life and turned me into The Sixty Dollar Man (not sure what the Titanium is worth?).

The journey thus far has been long and arduous. Whilst my left elbow and hand function quite well, the left shoulder has, at best, ten percent (10%) function.

Many people ask me "does that not upset you". The honest answer is, "Of Course" - followed up very quickly by the "what might have beens". In my case I can still sit at the dinner table with my wife and hold both the knife and fork etc. There had been a very real chance that they might have had to remove the left arm.

On Wednesday October 28th I presented the Keynote Address at the Safety Institute of Australia's lead conference in Sydney. The Title of the Presentation was "Oh &#*& , Where'd that come from". Just read this small excerpt from within that Address.

"............Now I  shall return to the situation that has brought us together this morning. The fact that I was bitten so badly by the car that collided with me. When we were last here I was describing the Surgery. As a result, my left arm and shoulder are now heavily reinforced by surgical Titanium. 

I also happened to be hooked up to all sorts of machines and had cables and tubes running all over the place. That, in itself, is quite distressing. Probably the most important tube at that time was the one leading to my right foot. It was hooked up to a Patient Controlled Analgesia (PCA) Unit, and was feeding me straight morphine. This little beast was designed to allow me to choose to top up the “juice” every six (6) minutes. There was a countdown timer on the screen. I can tell you I spent a lot of time learning to count backwards. Now you are not supposed to OD using a properly calibrated PCA device. There is one particular day I recall where Anne visited, and all I did was sit in chair…….tubes everywhere…..and rock myself gently in the chair….counting backwards from 360. That is a distressing memory.

The next ten days or so were a mixture of pain, awareness, fears, and questions – the PTSD had not arrived yet; I actually thought I had missed that boat. In the first week one of the highlights of my existence was being provided with a bed that was remotely adjustable, by me. Prior to that every time that Anne left, she would have to wind the bed up; in much the same way as you started a Model T Ford. 

When you are laying in a bed, unable to do almost anything, the ability to raise or lower your pillow actually becomes a benchmark on the road to recovery. I am sure in times of difficulty you may heard someone say something like “don't sweat the small stuff”. The meaning being that the little things are not worth getting upset about; it’s almost like having to wait for the big things. 

Well I am here to tell you that I have experienced the “big things” – and was right in the middle of them. There was very little I could do about them. What I had some control over was the little things. So an applied reality is, that in situations where the majority of our “control” has been removed, and I certainly was in that category, it is the “small stuff” that might show the way toward the “recovery”. So… do not automatically discard the “small stuff”…It needs to be given greater prominence in recovery. Sadly our health systems deliberately pay scant attention to this “small stuff”. 

In New South Wales it has recently been announced that all hospitals shall be directed toward the universal use of pre-packaged frozen foods. This decision rings alarm bells for me. I am reminded of a Kitchen Overseer who was in charge of catering at the Maitland Correctional Centre quite some time ago – this was a maximum security prison. He suggested, and this has been confirmed by every Custodial Officer I have ever met, that if the food is “ordinary”, or there is not enough of it “expect a bad day”. Now I am not saying that a prison and hospital are the same, although the French philosopher Michel Foucault might argue differently. They would both be defined by his nomenclature, as “Total Institutions”

The NSW Minister of Health may not consider the quality and volume of food as being a high priority. Indeed they had been quoted as saying that “the efficiencies we obtain shall release funds for other frontline health services”. Now we all know “efficiencies” means “cheap”….. and “front-line services” might translate to “operations, nurses, doctors etc”. So what we do is remove the “small stuff” to spend more on the “big stuff”. Make no mistake please, I am not saying that this is not a difficult area to manage. It is……….., and because these health systems are dealing with ourselves and our families they are always amongst the most emotive in our communities. 

It is often said though, that you are safer at home than in Hospital. Well of course you are! When you are in Hospital your health has been compromised by some illness, disease, accident etc. Let me put this another way. You are safer at home than in Hospital. Not because you are ill…because you are there. In the United States more people die as a result of their hospitalisation (not their illness, accident, disease, complications etc) than do from Motor Vehicle and Workplace Accidents, Suicides, Falls, Poisoning, and Drowning combined. These are what are called “preventable errors”. The Washington Post reported on April 8^th last year that between 2004 and 2006 there were almost a quarter of a million people (240,000) who died as a result of preventable errors. To put this into perspective this is around three percent (3%) of all admissions – that is a pretty big number! Remember these deaths are not the result of the circumstances etc that put you there. They are all determined to have been “preventable”. Now if we add in those persons whose illnesses etc are actually made worse due to their hospitalisations, and the preventable errors that become part of their treatment, that number well exceeds the millions. It has been estimated at over fifteen percent of all admission in the US , with an approximate worth of two hundred billion dollars+..............

Here is just one of the Comments from the Keynote Address:
"That was one the most powerful presentations I have ever seen. It has really made me think about Risk and Culture in a very different way. When I go back to Work and share this knowledge with my colleagues I know it will strike a chord for them as well. By the way would you consider coming to Canada to present this to the Board?"

Once again if my own story, background etc can add value to your own safety journey, or the journey of those around you, just let me know. I shall do ALL that I can to assist.

I have been asked if I shall place some of the "Keynote Address" on Youtube. An audio only version should happen in the next few weeks.

With my kindest regards

Health & Safety at work