RMCtv : Watch footage of the moment a postman's van rolled away

[POSTMAN]

Wednesbury postman Paul has bravely opened up about the incident in a bid to help others follow the right safety steps...


Previous chats about conducts and sackings about roll aways here...
https://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/google. ... oll%20away

LTB 025/19 - Royal Mail Group - Handbrake Safety and Avoiding Vehicle Roll Away Accidents: (RMG SHE Safety Alert – GP SA 2019 001 Vehicle Roll-Away)

[woody38]

Outdoor happen to any of us,

[crimson king]

"If I'd just done of the three, the accident wouldn't have happened. "
Did I hear that right? Did he just, on film, admit to not even applying the handbrake?
What the actual...

[Norfolk 'N' Chance]

Having been involved in a reasonable amount of work on Human Factors in occupational workplace accidents in a former life, this scenario seems a classic case of "Lapse of Attention" and is one of the human errors explained in detail in the HSE publication HS(G) 48.

Its easy to apportion blame to the guy, but he did not willfully leave the handbrake off. So it was not a direct violation of the rules. But it was a skill based error, in that due to other factors a momentary laspe of attention occurred. To fully understand this accident you would need to take a far wider look at what was going on in his workplace, the workload and environmental conditions on the day and his home/work life balance etc . As you can imagine, drilling down into these areas is extremely complex. So its much more than just his personal accountability for not having applied the handbrake and following the HIT procedure.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and many people are probably thinking, " well thats stupid leaving the handbrake off" and it wont happen to me. When you watch the video the guy himself says this himself says as much - Please dont be fooled or kid yourself. A laspe can happen to anyone, even the most methodical of people. Risk factors from a number of things stack up and lead you into a making a lapse.

Without much more information than has been made available in the video we cant see the precursors and contributory factors that led up to this particular incident. Yet we all read on here on a daily basis about morale, high workload, and a myriad of other job pressures, which when combined all will have had an affect on this persons ability to systematically follow and repeat a procedure at every stop that day. Its almost like these outside factors build up to a point where they set you up to fail, so stay focused as much as you can. Fatigue is perhaps one of the most common precursors to lapses.

HS(G) 48 talks about the wider failings within the management system (Managment Failings) and workplace culture that results in employees feeling the need to get on with the job, maybe cutting a few corners to get done in time. (i.e. pressures/stress) and an employee who is feeling stress/pressure through their work to meet a quota or get the job done, can unintentionally skip over details as seen here in this case.

Taking this to its ultimate conclusion, as this is not the first and wont be the last roll away, i think at least some consideration has to be given to looking again at the issue/risks in terms of what modern engineering controls could be phased in over time (cost vs risk benefit analysis) that would prevent rollaway even if a laspe does occur.

For example, a lot of the lastest small panel vans have an EPB (electronic parking brake) and with some it automatically applies itself on engine off. This engineering control solves the lapse of manually applying the handbrake at each stop. However I agree its a very expensive control to introduce fleet wide. Nonetheless it maybe viable to tackle in terms of a 5 -10 year implementation. The total cost of rollaway incidents and insurance damage claims etc need top be considered as part of this review. Obviously there is some interdependancies here that overlap with the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations and the choice and suitability of the vans/vehicles selected for use on rounds.

I always feel a little awkward when contributing my thoughts to a thread, however I felt it may give a different viewpoint in helping to understand that we all make unintentional lapses from time to time. My views are independent and only offered as food for thought.

Regards Norfolk

[barcajr]

A girl in my office got the sack when her van rolled away hitting a parked car, although she got her job back on appeal

[scoobymunster]

"If I'd just done of the three, the accident wouldn't have happened. "
Did I hear that right? Did he just, on film, admit to not even applying the handbrake?
What the actual...

You'd imagine he got offered a deal that minimised the repercussions if he agreed to film this promo warning video.

[WASD]

Well said Norfolk.

The issue with the electronic handbrakes is that the automated engagement then leads the driver to forget to apply a manual handbrake on another vehicle through force of habit. But this ties into what you say.

[yubin282]

Collective blame is the RM way.

No doubt we'll all be getting countless announcements reminding us to put the handbrake on.............even the non-drivers.

[Norfolk 'N' Chance]

Well said Norfolk.

The issue with the electronic handbrakes is that the automated engagement then leads the driver to forget to apply a manual handbrake on another vehicle through force of habit. But this ties into what you say.

Yes i quite agree and i had not fully considered that angle at the time of my earlier reply. So thanks for flagging it up. For staff regularly changing vans it could actually be worse so as with any risk reduction strategy it needs careful thought. I was merely trying to illustrate the principle of the hierarchy of risk control, robust/reliable engineering controls being favoured over weaker procedural controls. - I think over time we will see vehicle manufacturers use EPB's more and more though.

[EdRush]

Well said to Norfolk

Safety should be designed in. The current fleet of vans (manual handbrake etc) are not fit for purpose with multi-drop stops

End of story

[eastie]

lot of our vans still run away with the handbrake applied.
Told by DOM to turn them into the curb as no spare vans

[Dorset Plodder]

An interesting post Norfolk, I wouldn't worry about commenting on anything you might have experience of. We get enough of "This Job's Crap" ... "The CWU is useless" type posts so it's always nice to get some pertinent facts and information.

I agree that the pressure to rush around and try to get your duty completed has obviously got something to do with these accidents. I get in & out of the van 50 plus times a day .... so there's certainly a lot of opportunities to mess up. My van is fitted with an electronic parking brake and they take a bit of getting used to. On the downside I don't believe they're 100% effective, I've had mini rollaways even when I've stopped and switched off!

[k979aaa]

Wednesbury postman Paul has bravely opened up about the incident in a bid to help others follow the right safety steps...


Previous chats about conducts and sackings about roll aways here...
https://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/google. ... oll%20away

LTB 025/19 - Royal Mail Group - Handbrake Safety and Avoiding Vehicle Roll Away Accidents: (RMG SHE Safety Alert – GP SA 2019 001 Vehicle Roll-Away)

Anyone of the three could make a difference but not one can prevent it situation 1 van parked with wheels into the curb if another van hit your van may injure pedestrians. Situation 2 in gear sometimes this will slow the progress of the vehicle? But is debatable Situation 3 handbrake most if not all our Vehicles are inspected yearly? But I have found out they don't do proper checks on these vehicles just because it passed an MOT 2 or 3 Months ago does not mean it is safe today! So inclusion don't trust the last person who drove it only you can prevent it and the people who should service the vans but don't!