Managing the unexpected

1. Managing the unexpected Presented to the Roads Academy Masterclass Nirmal Kotecha 11 May 2011

3. Why did the mother duck cross the road?

4. . . . to lead the way of course!

5. There’s no ducking the issue - we cannot turn the clock back!

6. The Reality: we observe strange behaviour routinely on our sites!

7. Example:How to offload a 1.5 tonne mini-digger from a low loader ... with the wrong size ramps?

8. The answer

9. What happened next?

10. The Result was a RIDDOR The digger started to slide and overturned off the side of the ramp pinning the IP’s foot underneath. No of questions raised How was the digger loaded onto the flatbed in the first place? Why wasn’t he stopped? Why wasn’t the HIAB used? How common a practice is this?

11. Managing the unexpected 20 October 2010 should have been a day to remember

12. …the reality 20 October 2010

13. M25 Fatal Accident Reconstruction

14. The unanswered questions Specific Why the Vehicle Marshall remained stationary on that one occasion…? Why the Dozer Driver didn’t see him…? Generic Do we need vehicle marshalls?

15. The Impact A widow in Romania lost her only son The impact on the 1,000 people working on these projects is hard to describe It took 2 weeks before production was back up and running It took resident councillors to support the team to want to get back up and running The emotional impact will stay with many for a long time to come

16. What’s changed? There have been changes made as a result Not just on the M25 but to all our schemes But where will our next learning come from…a near miss…a minor accident…a lost time accident…a reportable accident…or worse… Our challenge is to prevent before it happens!

17. How do you like the odds?

19. Leadership from HA Board and Principals Group

20. Principals Group has provided real horsepower for change Reconciled Performance Data PG member to call NK personally within 24 hours of a RIDDOR Sharing details at each meeting Head of Health and Safety met every consultant and contractor to better understand and address issues Occupational Health and Behavioural Safety Standards introduced Sharing incidents and lessons learnt from other parts of business e.g. rail and the quick hitch fatality HA and Supply Chain working together to influence industry e.g. MEWP dead man switch Introduction of ALERT process Major Projects Community Conference 2009 – theme sharing Health & Safety practice across all tiers of the supply chain What Does Good Look Like Scheme launch events AfZ – Road worker and Construction and Maintenance Strategies launched Health and Safety Toolkit Independent and Senior Management Audits – and sharing the good and bad practices identified Health and Safety pre-qualification assessments Personal Commitments Health and Safety Wheel Working together to reduce live carriage crossings Sharing and learning best practice across industry – e.g. Crossrail Regular Health and Safety supply chain workshops

22. A4Z is not a pipe dream Major Projects AFR reduced by 67% since April 2008 First Principals Group Fatality

23. No. of RIDDORs reduced from almost 2 per month to just over 1 per month

24. A number of projects are showing the way toward A4Z... M25 Section 4 had previously hit 2m hours without a RIDDOR

25. What does this mean for you?

26. It starts with Leadership! Leadership at all levels Designing for safety Policy, Process, Procedures Risk perception Safety culture and climate Changing behaviours Human errors

27. So what happened to the ducklings . . .

28. A4Z is about getting everyone home safely each evening!