Case study: Stagecoach Devon Ltd (2022)
Relevance of this case
The accident happened because no one had thought through one of the most dangerous things the bus drivers did – act as banksmen for each other, in the dark, with no relevant training.
A generic risk assessment was provided for bus depots, which didn’t take account of the individual hazards at each bus station. It is a reminder that where generic risk assessments are used, they must be tailored to local circumstances.
Headlines
- A bus driver was being helped to reverse his bus by another driver, David Heathfield
- Mr Heathfield’s arm was crushed between that bus and a stationary bus.
- He suffered life-changing injuries – six fractures to his arm requiring titanium plates and metal staples. He continues to have difficulty eating and driving.
Investigation
It was before 6am in October 2019, so it was still dark, but very busy with lots of pedestrians and vehicle movements. Some buses had to be manoeuvred and reversed to get them out, but the one banksman tended to be kept busy in the upper part of the depot, leaving drivers to help each other in the lower part. Drivers had not been trained to act as banksmen.
Stagecoach had generic risk assessments and procedures which didn’t identify the specific problems with the way the buses had to be parked at this depot. As a result, the controls were inadequate. The company didn’t eliminate or reduce SFAIRP the need to reverse buses. It hadn’t ensured that when reversing had to be done, it was done competently and safely, for example through improved segregation, with trained banksmen and adequate lighting.
HSE comments
The HSE inspector, James Collins, said:
“A proper site-specific risk assessment would have picked up that there were inherent risks from the way that the buses were parked … Make sure you have site-specific risk assessment … If you’re a big or national company, it’s not good enough to have a generic risk assessment; it needs to be site specific because every location is going to have its own peculiarities, its own layout and its own infrastructure, which all mean that the risk assessment has to be specific to that site.”
Outcome
Stagecoach Devon Limited pleaded guilty to HSWA 2(1). They were fined £380,000, with £18,000 to pay towards prosecution costs.
More information
DevonLive includes a response from the employer and the trade union representing the injured driver.
IOSH Magazine includes more quotes from the HSE inspector.
More case studies are listed in Appendix 1 by theme or Appendix 1 by date.
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