Safe work is the door to all work

The Toyota mantra is "Safe work, reliable work, skilled work. Safe work is the door to all work. Let us pass through this door first."

As a simple expression of a risk management philosophy which all workers can understand it has worked well until the wheels started metaphorically coming off the Toyota juggernaut.

Some Toyota workers consider that the recalls are down to having recruited people who do not have the Toyota work ethic, but the recall problems are not the result of shoddy workmanship which would be rectified by recalling batches made by a particular shift in a plant. The problems are rather a matter of design. Some of the design problems are down to the enthusiasm with which Toyota cuts costs, an approach which, unless the emphasis on safe work is maintained can compromise the vehicles' safety and this appears to be what has happened with the jammed accelerators. The fix could have been designed in and is now having to be laboriously and expensively retrofitted. "Just in time" needs also to take into account "just in case".

The design problems with the hybrid cars are different. This is new technology and as it develops there will be problems or perception of problems which will need to be addressed. Toyota's reputation has been severely damaged by all these problems across their range coming together at the same time. There is now a view that all Toyota cars are suspect, which knocks the second hand market and the demand for its new cars too. Nothing that Toyota has said to date has calmed the concerns. They need to get back to their mantra.

Black spot for white horse?

Motorist don't just slow down and lose concentration when they see an accident site, they also gawp at landmarks and are advised by motoring authorities to pull off the road and then look, at the landmarks of course, not the accidents. Is the proposed White Horse of Kent going to create a traffic black spot?

Just in case you were wondering where you need to avert your gaze here is the BBC's list

The 10 most distracting landmarks in Britain
1. Stonehenge 2. Angel of the North 3. London Eye 4. Windsor Castle 5. Celtic Chalk Figures in Dorset 6. Wembley Stadium 7. Hadrian's Wall 8. Long Man of Willmington 9. Humber Bridge 10. The Wallace Monument

Installed prematurely - a novel excuse

On April 8th I sent the following complaint

ComplaintsSubject: Road Traffic Safety

On March 8th 2009 I was crossing at 2.30pm Crutched Friars in the City, about 20 metres from where the junction with Lloyd’s Avenue is. Looking left to ensure there was no traffic coming, it being a one way road for vehicles I was almost run over by a bicycle coming from the right. My first reaction and that of the person with me was that the cyclist was in the wrong, but on observing the traffic layout there is an arrow and an island clearly allowing this direction of travel for cyclists. Having worked in the area for 10 years it was the first time that I had paid any attention to this because it never seemed relevant to any crossing decision I would make.

This is a very confusing arrangement for pedestrians, because it is so unusual and there is no reason to assume traffic is going to come from the right. In the event of a serious accident this could result in a corporate manslaughter charge against your planning department. There are far more pedestrians than cyclists in the City. I think you need to re-think this and any other streets with cyclists only access one way.

On April 15th I got this reply ( my italics)

I am sorry to hear of the incident on 8th March 2009. However, the cycling measures in Crutched Friars were installed prematurely by the contractor. Works at this location were stopped so that the issues can be discussed further. 'New' signs are still covered over.
Any cyclist using the street in the opposite direction to the traffic order and signs is currently liable for prosecution.
The Planning & Transportation Committee has resolved to review the introduction of the measures in Crutched Friars when it considers the results of the public consultation exercise on 7 similar schemes throughout the City. A thorough assessment of the proposed schemes has been undertaken using national guidance issued by the Department for Transport. Safety to all members of the public forms an integral part of that assessment. All these proposals will be re-assessed in the light of public and press reaction received and your concerns will be included in the report to the Planning & Transportation Committee.

Too close for comfort

Well,well who would have thought it, the Transport Research Laboratory has found that 10,000 accidents in 2006 were caused by tailgaiting, the practice of driving right behind the car in front in an effort to intimidate them to move over or because you don't want anyone to cut in. Such car owners are known in the Welsh Valleys, I am reliably informed, as dog drivers - work it out.

Then there was the information that 90% of motorist were tailgated when they kept to the speed limit and only 50% when they drove without regard to it. It doesn't say how many of these are Central Lane Only Drivers (CLODs to the police) who add to a journeys' frustration.

The only three reliable risk management ploys I have come across with regard to tailgaiters are 1. to fit a switch to the dashboard to flash the brake lights without braking - one of my sales managers used this very effectively - smart man - he was also the only sales man in our electronic component company that Alan Sugar had time for 2. Follow the sensible advice of an American friend - drive so you have fast idiots in front, slow idiots behind 3.Have a number plate like my mother's - R2NEA -she has never been in a tailgate accident in 72 years of driving, but then she doesn't do motorways these days.

There's nowt so queer as folk

Looking at some of the news stories I am continually amazed at the low probability high impact stories which surface. It is, of course, the low probability which provides for the surprise element.

Talking of "surprise element" one of the stories was the tragic tale of the Polish visitor to England who relieved himself on the railway track. Not a problem in Poland where, if I remember rightly, the electricity cables are overhead. Sadly in the UK with the live rail right next to the usual track his mistake was fatal.

Then there were the three US crew who were found asleep on the job. Problem was that their job included access to nuclear weapon codes. Question I would like an answer to is" what were the conditions that made them all doze off?" Then it turned out we had not been in as much danger as it seemed as the codes they were guarding were out of date. Maybe we should go back to using geese, at least they don't sleep on the job.

Then there was the report that there have been 300,000 traffic accidents which have been caused, it was claimed, by SatNav, or rather by listening to SatNav and not using enough gumption. Imagine what a swarm of lemmings could do with SatNav - they might avoid going over the cliff. Unintended consequence.

Downhill Risk

Last week in the Daily Telegraph there was the obituary of a Richard Burton who died on January 6th 2008. Not the one who married Elizabeth Taylor twice, but the one who survived 65% burns in a racing car accident , married five times and employed Sarah Ferguson before she became Duchess of York. As my father would have said "He was quite a boy." He was also the direct descendant of Robert Burton who wrote "The Anatomy of Melancholy." Melancholy does not seem to have been a problem, rather an excess of joie de vivre.

One wonderful snippet went as follows " Burton married often and was a fount of knowledge on the art of making love; for example, he insisted that when doing so on a mountainside it was important to be facing downhill."

In the interest of think risk, smarter decisions I leave it to my readers to think through the possible consequences of Burton's downhill tryst.