""If you produce a R/A that has a high risk rating and something goes wrong - how to explain to the HSE why you let that work continue when you considered it dangerous to do so""" High risk areas e.g. Refuse collection; Chapter 8 working on the public highway, lolly-pop operations & similar are present irrespective of what you do and U have to let work continue or the country will stop There are more deaths / major disabilities on the road every year that anything else and work related deaths etc are being kept out of the stats deliberately as we have no real controls over the public in public places so sometimes we have no option but to have high risk and continue to work ------ all we can do is what is reasonably practicable in any given situation Only yesterday we had a court case where one of my refuse collectors was deliberately ran down [yes it was a deliberate action in front of witnesses] whilst he was trying to undertake his work for U and I --- The risk is high in that occupation no matter what we do but we cannot stop the activity ----We have another similar and separate case involving a different car driver coming up shortly where another refuse collector was deliberately ran down ----- We know its high risk but what can we do about the public --- The HSE etc are fully aware and accept the situation as they too have no power over the public

Bob Youel You have hit the nail on the head with the phrase of "reasonably practicable". There are ways you can minimise the risk from the public by having safe systems of work. There are refuse vehicles that can be loaded from the side so operatives do not have to walk in the road. Health and safety legislation does not say you can't do that because of H&S. What we , as safety professionals, must do is ensure the work is as safe as possible and economically viable, if this means developing new plant and equipment, what is wrong with that? Yes there are a lot of incidents on the public highway, but take a good hard look at the working methods before you blame every other road user. Granted there are a lot of idiots behind the wheel of vehicles, but people working in this environment need to be trained and made aware of control measures to minimise risk to themselves and others.