Small Mistakes Add Up To Catastrophy

[Gareth Dalzell]

I'd also add in frequency -meaning each time you carry out a risky operation the odds can increase of having an accident. If there's a 1/1000 chance of a chain snapping off and catching you by the time you get to your 900th time, accident free the odds are now more likely to happen than not. (Random example and not suggesting it's factually correct).

 

So there are tasks where you are likely to have an accident at some stage - the Russian Roulette of risk/hazard.

[difflock]

And yet . . . the statistics tell us if you need an operation done, get a surgeon who has preformed thousands of these particular ops.

because he will be better at them.

Even though the previous post would indicate an ever increasing risk of a cock-up with every operation preformed.

m

[Gareth Dalzell]

And yet . . . the statistics tell us if you need an operation done, get a surgeon who has preformed thousands of these particular ops.

because he will be better at them.

Even though the previous post would indicate an ever increasing risk of a cock-up with every operation preformed.

m

 

Not every operation - certain operations. Although Probability is involved in most risk management from crossing the road to a taking flight. Engine failures, lighting strikes, manufacturing faults of safety equipment, etc all in the mix

[Mark Bolam]

When felling near a property I like to reassure the customer by telling them 'I've never done this before'.

[Starscream]

I'm not sure if this is perhaps the right word for it, but 'fear' works for me. I finished reducing a row of 60ft conifers today for a gardening company. It came to flopping the last top and my butt was flapping a bit. I was getting tired, my brain was on the defensive, the groundsman were gardeners with no real experience of rope work etc. it was getting late and the wind was slightly picking up. I needed to thread this last piece between a shed and a summer house and my heart started going a little bit. I found myself double checking my kit, all my attachment points etc. Once checked, it put my mind at rest and dropped it with no dramas. But I like this post, thanks. It makes you think about the fact that if you look after the small things then they'll look after you.

[djbobbins]

Good post. I've been trained in a previous life in incident investigation and also done some of the IOSH courses. One of the tools we use in my current company is bow tie risk assessment. I've bluntly, but with good effect, explained it in a different way to colleagues as the "sh1t hitting the fan":

 

Think of a fan in the middle of a piece of ducting, sucking air in at one one end and blowing it out at the other. The fan is the event that has the potential to do harm.

 

On the inlet side of the fan, it should then be possible to stop the event ever happening, for example avoiding working at height if possible. I like to think of these as baffles in the ducting. Providing there are enough baffles and they don't have common failure points (like human error) it should be possible to remove the risk of the event taking place.

 

On the outlet side of the fan are the the things that prevent that event, if it ever happens, from doing harm. This is another set of baffles (in my simple brain!) which stop the sh1t from the fan blowing into my face. This can be fall arrest equipment, PPE etc. Sadly many people think PPE is safety but it's the last line of defence.

 

If this can be of use to anyone in terms of doing risk assessments or coaching people on workplace safety, please feel free to do so. No-one goes to work with the intention of not going home safe.

[TTP]

Excellent post, there's nothing wrong with your eloquence, very well put. I'm sure it will ring a bell with most on here. I really have to think about what I am doing and what the next stage is. My problem is lack of concentration, always thinking of something else. It took me to fall into a disused septic tank, breaking three bones in my foot, to make me really think about what's going on around me. Best of it was that I had looked at the site before, did my assessment, actually warned the tree surgeon, Darren Shepherd of VTS to be aware of the tank before he followed on from me the next week! I now try to get through the day relatively unscathed. I think that we all think we are bulletproof until something happens. A post like this just concentrates the mind a bit more.

 

 

**** happens...

 

I'll get my coat

[Kveldssanger]

Great post. Nice to be reminded of this, as we can all become complacent as a result of normality and repetition.

[aspenarb]

When felling near a property I like to reassure the customer by telling them 'I've never done this before'.

 

Just tell them you have dropped bigger trees on better houses than theirs

 

Bob

[oldwoodcutter]

I'm finding this thread very worthwhile, all tree workers are in the danger zone,be it the saw,the climb,some mad car driver coming through the work area, or a chog just missing someones shoulder when he switched off for a few seconds.

The small mistakes do indeed all add up, some accidents appear to come from nowhere,but they've actually come from the small things in retrospect.