Employee Safety

Employee Safety addresses near misses

by April Patrick, Employee Safety

As part of WYDOT’s ongoing efforts to track and report workplace incidents, and with the capability of the VelocityEHS safety management software system, strides are being made to actively report and track those instances that are considered near misses.

Ultimately, this allows WYDOT to enact proactive monitoring, since near misses are symptoms of undiscovered or unmitigated safety concerns. We can identify negative trends and come up with solutions to safeguard employees before the situation escalates to a true workplace incident.

Under Personnel Policy 16-2, WYDOT provides direction when reporting incidents that involve employee injury, damage to WYDOT equipment or property (regardless of the severity of the injury or extent of the damage,) or damage to private/public property caused by WYDOT equipment operators. To further clarify, this policy identifies the expected steps for when an incident has actually occurred, e.g. a light pole off WYDOT premises is struck by a WYDOT plow but only the light pole is damaged and the plow has some transferred paint. What is a near miss?

We currently identify a near miss as an event that could have potentially resulted in an injury, damage to WYDOT equipment or property, or damage to private/public property caused by a WYDOT employee operating WYDOT equipment, but didn’t.

Keep in mind that an incident resulting in minor damage or minor injuries would not be classified as a near miss. Alternatively, you can call a near miss a narrow escape, close call, or near hit.

All instances that fall in this category should be reported through VelocityEHS as a near miss so it can be investigated and appropriate actions can be taken where possible to avoid a workplace incident. Actively participating in this reporting process extends a certain level of accountability for your workspace, giving you the opportunity to extend input into how to mitigate the hazards that have come to light. Additionally, reporting and tracking near misses give more credence to enact broader changes throughout WYDOT.

Pre-trip inspections – keep your tires on the road

By Terry Uhrich D2 District Employee Safety Representative

On Feb. 1, a tandem-axle plow truck was plowing snow when it lost its right-hand front tandem dual wheels due to wheel fasteners coming loose. The torque had loosened over time, allowing the wheels to loosen, wobble/rub until the wheel studs failed, and then the wheels detached from the vehicle. Fortunately, the wheels did not affect oncoming traffic and the operator was able to get the vehicle stopped in a safe manner. This incident required towing to a local repair shop, taking a critical piece of snow removal equipment out of service until parts could come in and the vehicle was able to be repaired and returned to service.

A best practice is to make sure when doing wheel and tire service work, the wheels are installed per the manufacturer’s recommendations, are free of rust and debris on the wheel mating surfaces and hub flanges, and the threads for the studs and lugs are clean, free of damage, and are torqued to the correct torque specification. Within 100 miles, they need to be rechecked and re-torqued.

Prevention tips

Operators need to perform pre-trip inspections and, when doing so, they need to pay particularly close attention to the wheels and their fasteners. They need to individually check for loose or missing fasteners, streaking rust, damaged, cracked or broken wheels, and wear around the fasteners or hub flanges that could indicate loosening wheels. When operating the vehicle, they also need to note any clunking noises that could indicate a possible loose and/or broken wheel. If any of the above are noted on inspection, operators need to take the vehicle out of service and have it checked by a mechanic to verify that it is in good working order.