AC SAFETY CULTURE “ROUTE SAFETY”

DONOVAN’S DEMISE

PHOTO’S ALLEY

GREG’S GRAVITY

RICH’S HANG

FIETON’S FALLOUT

ACCIDENT — an undesired event or sequence of events causing injury, ill-health or property damage.

NEAR MISS — near misses describe incidents where, given a slight shift in time or distance, injury, ill-health or damage easily could have occurred.

“SAFETY CULTURE”

THE WAY SAFETY AND SAFETY TRAINING ARE MANAGED.

“THE WAY IT IS DONE AROUND HERE”

“TO SOME DEGREE HUMAN ERROR IS INEVITABLE IN AVALANCHE WORK ORANY OTHER COMPLEX SITUATIONS.”

KEEP IN MIND:

KNOWLEDGE NEEDED FOR ROUTE SAFETY

*SNOW & AVALANCHE KNOWLEDGE

*ROUTE KNOWLEDGE

*SKI CUT KNOWLEDGE

*EXPLOSIVE KNOWLEDGE

*RESCUE KNOWLEDGE

REPEATED MISTAKES BY AVALANCHE PROFESSIONALS

*TERRAIN EVALUATION

*SNOWPACK EVALUATION

*CONTOL PRACTICES

*PARTNER DYNAMICS

*ORGANIZATION

5 INTER-RELATED CATAGORIES

(Doug Richmond)

TERRAIN EVALUATION

*MISJUDGMENT OF AVALANCHE POTENTIAL

*SKI CUT SUITABILITY

*INHERENTLY PROBLEMATIC TERRAIN

SNOW PACK EVALUATION

*DEEP LEVEL INSTABILITIES

*SKI CUT SUITABILITY

*EXTREME EVENTS

*POST CONTROL CHANGES

*ISOTHERMAL EVALUATIONS

CONTROL PRACTICES

*BOMBING TECHNIQUES

*OVERDEPENDENCE ON SKI CUTTING

*HARD SLAB CONTROL

SKI CUTTING MISTAKES

*WRONG TERRAIN

*WRONG SNOW

*WRONG TECHNIQUE

*PERCEIVED NECESSITY

PARTNER DYNAMICS

*ABANDON “SAFE RITUAL TRAVEL”

*COMMUNICATION

*COORDINATION WITH TEAMS

*VISITORS

*LARGE NUMBERS

ORGANIZATIONAL MISTAKES

*OVERALL TIME FOR AVALANCHE

*BOMB BUDGET

*UNSAFE CONTROL ROUTES

*HIGH TURNOVER

*OVER-STRUCTURED AC PLAN

*PERFORM UNDER SIEGE

PROFESSIONAL AVALANCHE NEAR MISSES

*DISTRACTIONS

*COMMUNICATION FAILURE

*MOTIVATED REASONING

*REPEAT INCIDENTS

4 CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

(RON SIMENHOIS & SCOTTY SAVAGE)

DECISION MAKING

*LESS EXPERIENCE – HEURISTICS, RULES OF THUMB

*EXPERIENCED – “RPD” RECOGNITIONPRIMAL DECISIONS, GUT FEELING

*TWEENERS – LITTLE OF BOTH, BUT TEND TO THINK THEY KNOW MORE THAN THEY DO

*NEED HEALTHY DISCUSSIONS, WHERE THERE IS NO FEAR OF REPRISAL

*MISTAKES ARE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR GOOD DECISION MAKING

*SEE IT, SAY IT, FIX IT

SAFETY

BE SAFE OUT THERE

*PROPER GEAR AND SKILL TO USE IT

*KNOW CURRENT WEATHER & SNOWPACK DATA

*VISUAL AND VERBAL CONTACT WITH PARTNER

*KNOWLEDGE & COMMUNICATION WITH OTHER TEAMS

*SAFE EXPLOSIVE HANDELING

*SAFE ZONES

*HAVE PACK CLOSED AND READY

*NEVER BECOME COMPLACENT

BASED ON JOSH’S LIST

**NO LIGHT POLICY**

*PULL FUSE TRAIN AND PUT IN MEMORABLE PLACE WITH CAP DOWN AND MOVE AWAY, NOT TO BE APPROACHED WITH IN THE NEXT FIFTEEN MINUTES.

**DUD POLICY**

*MAKE NOTE OF WHERE DUD IS LOCATED*CONTROL SLOPE AS NEEDED*BEFORE RETRIEVAL, WAIT AT LEAST 15 MINUTES OR IF EMMITTING SMOKE, FOR AT LEAST ONE HOUR.*DISARM BY PULLING THE FUSE TRAIN (RETURN FUSE TRAIN TO FORECASTER FOR INSPECTION)*DOCUMENT IF DUD CAN’T BE FOUND

ALWAYS!!!*COMMUNICATE, DON’T ASSUME*KNOW POTENTIAL HAZARD*HAVE PROPER EQUIPMENT *TEST TRANSCEIVER BEFORE LEAVING BASE AREA*HAVE VISUAL & VERBAL COMMUNICATION*WORK FROM SAFE ZONE*SPOT EACH OTHER W/ MOVEMENT & EXPLOSIVES*CHECK TO SEE IF SLIDE PATH CLEAR*ASSESS WHERE PATH IS LOADED & PLACEMENT NEEDED*CLIP 1” OFF OF FUSE*MAKE SURE IG IS PROPERLY SEATED*INFORM PARTNER “IG ON”*AGAIN, CHECK FOR CLEAR SLIDE PATH*MAKE SURE FUSE IS LIT*REDUCE EXPOSURE TO BLAST & FUMES*MOVE SAFELY & SPOT EACH OTHER WHILE SKI CUTTING*ASSESS & RE-EVALUATE HAZARD CONDITIONS*COMMUNICATE WITH OTHER ROUTES, IF NEEDED*BE AWARE OF TIME*GET MORE EXPLOSIVES, IF NEEDED*INFORM WHEN DONE OR DELAYED