A shortened week at work (that's not over yet) but chewy that did not seem quite so important after a serious accident involving a tanker driver. The driver was delivering caustic and as he went to connect his tanker up got covered in it as it exploded in his face. The first I saw was when I passed to see him being attended to with bottles of eye wash just after being thrown under the shower. By all accounts his face was red and blistered and the worst case scenario first reports feared for his sight but thankfully that appears to be alright and after being taken to hospital he was later transferred to James Cook University Hospital but was reported as stable and had been released by today.
The car park has not seen so much activity as ambulance men, police and health and safety officers milled around getting details and examining the CCTV footage. From what I gather he had not started pumping the caustic off but had simply removed the cap from the back. Not yet wearing his visor the valve must have been leaking and building up pressure behind the cap which then flew into his face as he removed it. Apparently he admitted his fault in not wearing his visor and supervisors at work are fearing reprisals for not ensuring that he was wearing his safety equipment which they are supposed to do but in reality everybody signs the paperwork and leaves him to it. On the face of it this may seem lax but the driver must, and apparently has, taken responsibility for his own protection provided he has been issued with the correct equipment and received the proper training. Whilst the onus of this will fall on his company it is not to deny our company any responsibility as they must inform him of any local rules which to be fair is generally the case.
The trouble is that everybody is in fear of legal action and being sued or even prosecuted so seek to apportion blame. This has the knock on effect of people being wary of reporting accidents worrying about consequences which can only make things worse as people are more nervous and not concentrating on the job in hand. In the last few weeks there have now been a number of mistakes as the workload increases and people get tired working extra days which then creates a vicious circle.
At least in this instance as bad as the accident was and the scars the driver may have it is slightly reassuring that it is not as bad as was first feared.
The car park has not seen so much activity as ambulance men, police and health and safety officers milled around getting details and examining the CCTV footage. From what I gather he had not started pumping the caustic off but had simply removed the cap from the back. Not yet wearing his visor the valve must have been leaking and building up pressure behind the cap which then flew into his face as he removed it. Apparently he admitted his fault in not wearing his visor and supervisors at work are fearing reprisals for not ensuring that he was wearing his safety equipment which they are supposed to do but in reality everybody signs the paperwork and leaves him to it. On the face of it this may seem lax but the driver must, and apparently has, taken responsibility for his own protection provided he has been issued with the correct equipment and received the proper training. Whilst the onus of this will fall on his company it is not to deny our company any responsibility as they must inform him of any local rules which to be fair is generally the case.
The trouble is that everybody is in fear of legal action and being sued or even prosecuted so seek to apportion blame. This has the knock on effect of people being wary of reporting accidents worrying about consequences which can only make things worse as people are more nervous and not concentrating on the job in hand. In the last few weeks there have now been a number of mistakes as the workload increases and people get tired working extra days which then creates a vicious circle.
At least in this instance as bad as the accident was and the scars the driver may have it is slightly reassuring that it is not as bad as was first feared.
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