During a spell of cold frosty weather, an Agency worker was walking to work early in the morning when he slipped and fell as he approached the site entrance gates.  He reportedly suffered a fractured bone in his ankle.

Pedestrian access - The injured person walked past the pedestrian access gate, where the path had been gritted, and approached the main vehicle entrance; it was later found that the lock on the pedestrian gate had frozen and hadn’t been opened by the nightshift, although the injured person wasn’t aware of this.

Safe systems - The site paths, yard and car park areas had been gritted; however, this did not include the bell mouth at the entrance as this is outside the site boundary.

Risk awareness - The site rules and induction specify the need to use the pedestrian access.  The injured person did not try the gate or STOP & THINK and assess the risk before approaching the vehicle access, which hadn’t been gritted.

Near miss/hazard alert - There were no reports of the pedestrian access gate not being open previously, nor was it realised that the opening of the gate was not included in the nightshift routine for preparing the site ahead of the arrival of the day shift.

Please see image of site entrance below.

HOW COULD THIS HAVE BEEN AVOIDED

•The gate to the designated pedestrian access route should have been opened ahead of the arrival of the day shift.

•The pedestrian access route should be used in line with the site rules and induction.

•Continue to promote the Near Miss / Hazard Alert reporting process; any previous instances where the pedestrian gate was not opened ahead of the arrival of the day shift should have been reported.

KEY REVIEW POINTS

•Are robust arrangements in place to minimise the hazards and risks from adverse weather?

•Has the winter checklist been completed for every site to ensure lighting, drainage, gritting procedures, etc. are effective and access routes are clear of slip / trip hazards?

•Is everyone aware of site access / egress rules and what they can do to help keep themselves safe, especially new starters or temporary workers who are new to a site?