Welcome Guest! The IOSH forums are a free resource to both members and non-members. Login or register to use them

Postings made by forum users are personal opinions. IOSH is not responsible for the content or accuracy of any of the information contained in forum postings. Please carefully consider any advice you receive.

Notification

Icon
Error

Options
Go to last post Go to first unread
9Yally  
#1 Posted : 21 March 2013 15:56:14(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
9Yally

I currently work for a courier company and one of our self employed drivers was said to be speeding on a COMAH site and they have stated they will be reporting this as a near miss. This is all the detail I have at present, but surely this would not be classed as a near miss, but a simple breach of site rules ? I am not up to speed on COMAH so it may be regulated differently ? We have been asked to interview the driver and end in the documentation for their report. As stated the driver is self employed so will not be subject to the disciplinary procedure
John M  
#2 Posted : 21 March 2013 16:07:03(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
John M

COMAH is silent on speeding couriers. Site rules re speeding are something else. Jon
A Kurdziel  
#3 Posted : 21 March 2013 16:08:35(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel

Our site is not COMAH but I would also treat the report of courier speeding on out site as a ‘near-miss’ as it has the increased potential for there being an accident. We also need to make it clear to our own staff and contractors that the speed limit applies to everybody of the site from the CEO down and couriers and others are not exempt. Why is a breach of site rules not ‘a near miss’? The rules are there for a reason and if they are not applied then that’s a near miss- a failure to manage a hazard leading to an increased risk of an accident/incident.
9Yally  
#4 Posted : 21 March 2013 17:05:59(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
9Yally

A breach of site rules isn't automatically a near miss If someone isn't wearing a high vis vest, would you say this is a near miss ?
RayRapp  
#5 Posted : 21 March 2013 17:10:57(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
RayRapp

You could argue the toss all day about what is a near miss, close call, hazard, etc. However in the example provided I would call it a hazard/ unsafe condition. Really it is not important what you call it...it's what you do about it that matters.
David H  
#6 Posted : 21 March 2013 19:05:21(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
David H

We too would be raising it as a safety concern. All drivers to site are briefed on the direction to travel, speed limit, wearing seatbelts etc. If the guy had been given the briefing and still acted unsafely we would be puting the driver offsite with a large flea in his ear and be looking at the courier company to get their people in order. Depending on past history the courier could be losing the contract. David
John M  
#7 Posted : 22 March 2013 03:21:59(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
John M

quote=9yally] I currently work for a courier company and one of our self employed drivers was said to be speeding on a COMAH site and they have stated they will be reporting this as a near miss. Who are thy going to report the near miss to? I can imagine how the Regulators ( HSE and others ) will react to a near miss or otherwise of a speeding courier. Why not a good old rollicking and a final warning or perhaps an insistence that he remains outside the gate. Jon HSE have enough to do without investigation such petty
A Kurdziel  
#8 Posted : 22 March 2013 09:41:03(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel

Further to post #3 I would record such an incident as a near miss on our system. I would not dream of reporting this to the HSE. The two questions I would ask are: 1. Did the driver not apply the rules because he did not understand them eg the speed limit was not properly posted, he was not properly briefed when he got on site etc. 2. If it was clear that we had done everything to inform him of our rules then we would like to know why the driver did not follow them and if we could not get a good explanation we would consider banning him and his company from our site. Whether this is called a near miss or not is not the point; the point is that site rules have been broken something is done about this using whatever systems exist on the company’s site. I am surprised that some posters regard speeding on a site as a trivial matter since accidents involving workplace transport are a major cause of accidents, which would seem to indicate that, enforcing rules about workplace transport is important.
redken  
#9 Posted : 22 March 2013 09:58:10(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
redken

9yally wrote:
, but surely this would not be classed as a near miss, but a simple breach of site rules ? As stated the driver is self employed so will not be subject to the disciplinary procedure
Two points: if I was speeding on site I would much prefer the company dealt with it by recording it in their near miss system as opposed to me being investigated for breaking site rules. b) if the driver is not subject to a disciplinary procedure how do you deal with his unacceptable behaviour while working for you?
jay  
#10 Posted : 22 March 2013 12:07:32(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
jay

Many site, including ours which is NOT a COMAH site, have triggers when their own employees, visitors and contractors are in breach of "Site Safety Rules". Typically, COMAH sites have what is generally referred to as " Life Saving Rules" or some similar aspect and exceeding the site speed limit can be one of those rules and it will automatically trigger an investigation. This driver on our site would alse be a subject of investigation, but in our system, unless he almost caused a collision, we would classify exceeding the site speed limit as a " Potential Hazard"
pl53  
#11 Posted : 22 March 2013 13:30:25(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
pl53

Whether the site is a COMAH site or not is irrelevant. The incident is a near miss if you want it to be. In fact the whole argument as to whether an incident is a near miss or not is entirely pointless. Every organisation is completely free to define a near miss, incident, accident or what ever using any criteria they like. What is important is what they do when something like this occurs.
Juan Carlos Arias  
#12 Posted : 23 March 2013 22:26:40(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Juan Carlos Arias

RayRapp wrote:
You could argue the toss all day about what is a near miss, close call, hazard, etc. However in the example provided I would call it a hazard/ unsafe condition. Really it is not important what you call it...it's what you do about it that matters.
I couldn't agree with this more. I wouldn't lose sleep about a near miss being raised against this. The main thing is to investigate and put preventive measures in place.
boblewis  
#13 Posted : 24 March 2013 13:34:02(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
boblewis

Juan Carlos Being an absolute pedant you surely mean Corrective not Preventive measures as the event has happened. At least the ISO standards state this
John J  
#14 Posted : 24 March 2013 16:40:23(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
John J

It would probably be classed as a near miss on our site. How did they know the driver was speeding? From experience I can tell you that larger vehicles look to be going a lot faster than they actually are.
Juan Carlos Arias  
#15 Posted : 24 March 2013 18:17:45(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Juan Carlos Arias

boblewis wrote:
Juan Carlos Being an absolute pedant you surely mean Corrective not Preventive measures as the event has happened. At least the ISO standards state this
You are right, it would be corrective in this case but preventative going forward. so IMO both types of measures could be introduced.
boblewis  
#16 Posted : 25 March 2013 09:48:16(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
boblewis

Juan Carlos With my auditors hat on the standard says that if an an event has occurred then it is corrective actions that are applied even to stop it happening again. One applies preventative measures only before there has been experience of the event, even in another organisation. These distinctions are as bad as identifying what is a near miss. Speeding is not a Near Miss as something has happened and to a degree people were exposed to the risk even though no adverse outcome was noted. :-) Not that the investigation should be any less thorough to find out why the driver felt he could exceed site speed limits. Maybe it is even more important as others too may be speeding for the same causes. Bob
RayRapp  
#17 Posted : 27 March 2013 12:49:02(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
RayRapp

Hi Bob Whilst I do not wish to get bogged down with semantics, I suggest speeding could be a near miss if the vehicle had narrowly missed someone. That principle applies to all any hazards/ unsafe conditions. For example, if a manhole was without a cover it would be a hazard/ unsafe condition. However, if someone narrowly missed falling down the manhole then it would be a near miss - do you agree? One day we will all speak a common language...LOL! Ray
boblewis  
#18 Posted : 27 March 2013 13:30:28(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
boblewis

Ray I think I am saying that some things are too imprecise to be defined and local definitions are the only things we have. There is NO objective definition for Near Miss merely intersubjective. Bob
Users browsing this topic
Guest (2)
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.