Does Formula 1 Racing Safety have similarities to our work?  You bet it does.  The safety behind Formula 1 Racing is paramount in their operations from the public, the track workers, the safety marshals, the pit crews all the way to the drivers.  The series has not had a driver death since 1994, and the last marshal death (now three) was in 2001.  On June 9 2013, a marshal suffered injuries in the Canadian Grand Prix causing his death, and his actions were the result of his death, where we find the relation to our work.

The FIA, the governing body of F1 said in a statement’ “The worker was helping to recover a car which had stopped during the race. The recovery vehicle had lifted the car to return it to the pits and while doing this the worker dropped his radio and attempted to pick it up. As he did this, he stumbled and was hit and run over by the recovery vehicle.”  The marshal was a 10 year veteran of the position.

This has direct reflection on our daily operations.  We do everything we can to identify risks, put mitigations in place, and a simple mishap can lead to catastrophic consequences. Could this have been prevented, most likely yes.  Take this message as a learning event for your work across the board, and especially while working around traffic.  No action is more important that the one that will keep you out of harms way.

If interested, more can be found about this accident via the internet.