Re: Accident Info
l.stone@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
Fri, 13 Jun 1997 18:11:33 -0500
I am the Arboricultural Technician at one of Australia's premier arboricultural teaching institutions, Burnley College, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In early 1996 we started recording accidents & near misses on a database using Microsoft Access.
We wrote to Local Government Authorities, arborists and tree workers throughout Melbourne inviting responses. As you intimated people are reticent about telling of their mistakes, but with an assurance of anonimity the responses are now starting to come in. We insist on
full disclosure, name, age, experience, qualifications, details of the accident or near miss. We publish the results without any reference to the individual involved, but feel that if we are to present an accurate account of the prevalence and types accidents we need to be able to authenticate
the incident. Problems that have become evident are the use of the Stihl 020T chainsaw one handed and fatigue causing mistakes. One problem which is worldwide is safe working practice. We have determined from reports, that all the clips on the available flip lines and pole straps were subject to malfunction when used in our industry. (most designs were imported from Europe and the USA)
We have tackled the problem by calling together manufacturers, distributors and arborists to determine the best way to handle the problem. The result to date has been the formation of a committee to design a purpose built arboricultural form of attachment (rather than a rock climbing or rescue gear), and we have recommended that in the interim
that climbers are attached at 2 points at all times when climbing (either 2 pole straps or flip lines or 1 pole strap, flip line and a climbing rope). This action may seem extreme to some, but we have the casualty and near miss records.
Top sum up, we recommend the recording of accidents and near misses, especially if it can be by a reputable institution that offers a secure database that does not infer any liability.
We invite a wordwide participation in our database, but would require the following information.
Date of incident
Name of person
Telephone No
Age
Weather conditions
Time of day
Location of incident
Experience
Qualifications
Nature of accident or near miss (a comprehensive description)
Nature of injury
Medical attention required (yes/no)
Hospitalisation required (yes/no)
Cause of accident or near miss (it may be necessary to admit that you made a fundamental mistake)
We would be happy to post our results to any interested parties (although they are not extensive at present)
Would be interested in any comments
Leigh Stone