FEATURE THE COVID DISTRACTION
Gary Escott, Managing Director of SiteZone Safety, shares his thoughts on why it’s important to be consistent with all occupational safety practices while under the COVID-19 spotlight.
Is COVID-19 distracting us from the rest of occupational safety? It’s a strange question to ask, as the virus is steeped in safety concerns, but they are focussed on one, albeit very dangerous, risk. In the occupational safety world, across many sectors, safety risks abound, from slips, trips, and falls, to working at
height, dangers of heavy machinery, and of course, my particular area of interest, collision with work vehicles.
There is no doubt that the serious health risks posed by COVID-19 demand a robust safety response and this applies to home and work situations. However, is this at the expense of other occupational safety practices fading into the background, because we are so focussed on limiting the spread of infection?
For some sectors there has been an accelerated rate of activity, because of the way we have had to live during the quarantine. For transport and supply logistics, domestic waste, and recycling for example, the work tempo increased. The sharp rise in domestic online shopping caused a chain reaction. At the peak of the pandemic in April, it was estimated that 60% of non- food related purchases were executed online, which was 30% more than that of 2019.
Therefore, with all this shopping activity, logistics had to keep up with the demand of the UK online shoppers. Depots became busier with lorries in and out, and ground personnel manoeuvring around them. In anti-collision safety, this is the breeding ground for accidents between vehicles and workers. Being in a busy confined space makes it awkward for machines and people to interact safely.
The other knock-on effect of the Coronavirus online shopping phenomenon was the increased generation of domestic waste. Even though commercial waste had decreased during quarantine, we cannot forget the growing mountain of discarded parcel boxes in our recycling bins at home.
To meet this demand, domestic waste services had to keep working and possibly harder than before. Even under normal conditions, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) states that approximately 3.4% of workers in the waste industry between 2018 and 2019 sustained a workplace injury, significantly higher than the rate for workers across all industries (1.8%). More than a quarter
10
(28%) of all fatal injuries in the waste sector during the same period were caused by workers being struck by a vehicle and a further 30% of fatalities by coming into contact with moving machinery.
When a sectoral service suddenly becomes overloaded, this surely puts a lot of pressure on its processes, including work-related safety. While the warehouses and lorries were rushing to fulfil our mail order demands, was the proximity from vehicles, as well as fellow workers being observed? Sometimes in a crisis, there is a momentary lapse, and in just such a hiatus, accidents can happen.
There were work-related risks that existed before, and still prevail. Some of them amplified now, as we try to make up for the shortfall of the lockdown months. Let’s not forget that workers can still get hit by a vehicle, it’s as great a risk as before, and can be just as fatal as the virus.
Therefore, it’s vital to stay on top of regular risk management practices. Assess sites, especially now that personnel are spread out from each other. The dynamics with moving vehicles will surely have changed. Keep training and briefing employees to be aware of collision risk, it hasn’t gone away. Use technology to assist staff in being safe and improving safety performance.
Keep communicating and making safety part of the company culture. Because, in a world where we are now so wary of colliding with people, there are other objects with which a collision could change one’s life forever.
“
“SOMETIMES IN A CRISIS, THERE IS A MOMENTARY LAPSE, AND IN JUST SUCH A HIATUS, ACCIDENTS CAN HAPPEN.”
www.proximitywarning.com/
www.tomorrowshs.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
