This is Volume 19, Issue 3 (3Q 2015) of the Solo Safety Belt
Welcome
By John Lieberman, Editor - jlieberman37@comcast.net
Where has the year gone? Here it is August already. Nationals are next month. A lot of kids have already gone back to school and, before you know it, the holidays will be upon us.
Some Regions will shut down their Solo programs over the winter months while others, because of their climate, will run year-round. But, regardless of your Region’s schedule, please remember that Safety is an issue that should be with us constantly. So, sit back and peruse this August issue of The Safety Belt.
August SSC Conference Call
By David Steger, SSC Chairman and SEDIV DSSS - sedivsss@gmail.com
Here's a recap of issues discussed during our August 18th conference call: Adding SSS and SSI positions in all regions continues to be a priority. In response to a request from one Region, First Aid kit suggestions may be found on the American Red Cross website Letter #17336 re stainless steel brake lines in Street classes: The SSC does not consider stock brake lines a safety issue, as there is no incident history. We defer to the SAC for its opinion and recommend that the SEB deny the request. Junior karts on race facilities will be treated the same way as cars. A site plan and course map must be approved by your DSSS prior to issuing the sanction. A WKA location will be carefully considered.
Permission or encouragement to use a "Power-off" switch mounted on a kart's steering wheel will go to the KAC for consideration, as it is not a SSC issue Jan is in the final stages of developing SSS training materials consisting of a Power Point presentation and an annotated reference sheet citing relevant Solo Rules sections. These will available soon on the SCCA website under "Forms" in the Solo tab.
We need increased emphasis on proper completion of incident reports - reducing opinion - and use of course maps whenever there is vehicle contact with hard surfaces (see the two follow-up articles below).
Green cards should be issued whenever there is impact or obvious injury.
Solo Rules 4.1.C & D should be used when a driver's ability to safely compete is in doubt by the Event Chairman or SSS A car battery fire has raised concerns about ultra-light lithium ion battery use. We encourage the STAC to review this issue.
Be Careful in the Summer Heat
By John Lieberman, Editor - jlieberman37@comcast.net
Where I live, in northwest Louisiana, this summer has been brutal. After nearly washing away this past winter and spring, we’ve been roasting in the summer heat with more than 15 days at or above 100 degrees so far. And I know that other parts of the country have had it even worse.
That heat should give all of us as Solo Safety Stewards cause for concern. It's easy to get overheated. I know! It happened to me at our July event. But I realized what was happening and sought immediate relief before it got worse. Overheating can lead to heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and even death. So it's nothing to be taken lightly.
It's important to know the symptoms of overheating and how to treat them. OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration) has a great online guide for dealing with heat-related illnesses at: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/heatstress/heat_illnesses.html
When Should I File an Incident Report?
By David Steger, SSC Chairman and SEDIV DSSS - sedivsss@gmail.com
"When in doubt, fill it out!" That’s what I tell all my trainees when I teach a safety class. There are greater consequences resulting from not filing a needed report than filing one that becomes "FYI".
No Doubt situations: Injury to a competitor or spectator. When medical attention is provided, or a green card is issued as a precaution, carefully document the incident, notify your DSSS by phone and file your report.
Hard vehicle impact with any solid object. Whenever there is physical damage to the vehicle or site property, document the incident with photographs and a course map, and file a clear, objective description of events.
Mechanical failures that require a course shut-down and the vehicle being towed; i.e., a lost wheel or fluids. Try to determine a cause of the failure and clearly document your findings.
Judgement Calls: Minor on-course mechanicals, such as a kart losing a chain or a vehicle running out of fuel.
Red-flag situations caused by spins and stalls, major course resets, or a lost novice.
Minor contact, such as punting finish lights, with no damage to vehicle or equipment.
Do not hesitate to contact your DSSS with any questions. Email or phone works. I cannot stress enough the importance a decent course map provides the SSC in examining how an incident happened. We cannot regulate away driver error, but we often refocus attention to particular course elements when evidence indicates a reduced emphasis on safe design. Our recent emphasis on clean, straight finish areas is one example of an improved result without new rules.
Remember subjective observations like "the driver was obviously in way beyond his ability" are useless. We need a clear description of what happened, not why, a couple of photos and a map of the incident area. Course conditions – wet, sandy, etc. – and driver inputs are helpful, too.
Did I mention every report with impact should have a course map? If you cannot scan and send it in with the PDF, just mail it to your DSSS. We will get maps to the SSC when necessary.
For additional information, see Jan's follow-up article below.
Don't forget – there's an Incident Report form on the SCCA website that you can fill out from your computer. However, you may be having trouble finding it since the website has changed. All you have to do is log in. When you do, your Profile Page comes up. If you're already logged in, just click on your name in the upper right hand corner and then click on Profile Page at the top of the drop-down menu. Scroll down that page until you get to the section labeled "SCCA Leadership." There, you'll find the File Cabinet. Open that and scroll down to the Insurance section. That's where you'll find the Incident Report form in PDF format.
You can transcribe your on-site notes to the PDF once you get home. Emailing to K&K and SCCA is easy in this format because the links are right there on the form and, if you fill it out on your computer, that makes it a whole lot easier for all of us to read.
Writing an Incident Report
By Jan Rick, MIDDIV DSSS and SSC Member - janice@wcsllc.net
The SSC (Solo Safety Committee) needs your help with incident reports. The SSC reviews all incident reports. The Committee members need all the facts so they can look at the big picture of Solo safety. They have the job of looking at all reports over the entire program to see if there are trends, or common problems, in multiple locations. They also can look at the facts and use those facts to see if safety rules need to be revised or created. The problem is that facts are getting lost on many of the recent reports. Many SSSs are reporting opinions and not reporting enough facts and details. A fact is: A statement or assertion of verified information about something that is the case or has happened; an event known to have happened or something known to have existed; A concept whose truth can be proved.
The incident report form asks for: "Details of Incident (Use additional paper if necessary)"
Example:
Grade A+: "2007 Corvette in heat 3 on a dry course was exiting the slalom. Car appeared to get loose and skidded into fence that was located 103 feet from the cones."
Grade C-: "The Corvette went into the slalom too fast and could not make it without hitting cones, so driver tried to brake and got the car into a spin that then skidded into a fence that was on the side of the course. Driver should have entered the slalom slower".
Statement 2 has already decided the reasons for and cause of this incident. The SSS completing the report should not make his / her opinions part of the report. If this incident went into litigation, opinions can and would hurt many cases. The SSS must never make decisions about the reasons things happen, even if they seem simple. The SSS is not able to be totally objective, that is why each report is reviewed by the committee.
Once the SSS states an opinion, and their feeling of a determination is in their head, it seems that they tend to get away from reporting the facts and don't often continue to gather all them.
SSSs have to be problem solvers in many of their duties of the job. But, in this duty they need to not solve anything. Just gather facts.
All the facts are needed. A recent report came in and the description on the incident report was "Car spun and hit curb". There were no other facts. No map, no pictures, no mention of how far the curb was from the course, etc.
Whenever there is a vehicle hitting something, measurements, maps or photos, need to be included to show as many of those facts as possible.
Unfortunately the SSS's opinion just gets in the way of the SSC trying to look at the facts. With reports that have such limited info, nothing is gained by the report. I know that all of you are very interested in improving the Solo Safety program and this is one way we can all try to manage incidents and possibly learn from them.
Here are some more examples:
Grade A+: As car approached the finish, it spun and hit the timing lights. No skid marks were visible. Car has minor scratches on left rear panel. Timing lights were reset and the event continued.
Grade C-: As car approached the finish, it lost control and looked like it was going too fast. When it spun it hit the timing lights. Workers ran to the finish and picked up timing lights and started setting them back up. Car has scratches on left rear panel that were probably caused by the light stand, as it has some metal on it. After a long delay the timing lights were able to be reset and the event continued.
Grade A+: Wind increased suddenly and 10x10 EZ Up Tent came loose. It hit the timing trailer causing minor scratches and dents. EZ Up is bent and fabric torn. No people were injured.
Grade C-: Wind increased suddenly and 10x10 EZ Up Tent was not anchored down with enough weights or tie down cords and it came loose. It hit the timing trailer while people were inside timing event. It scared some of them. It caused scratches and dents. EZ Up is bent and fabric torn.
Parting Shot
By John Lieberman, Editor - jlieberman37@comcast.net
Thank you for taking the time to read this latest edition of The Safety Belt and for helping us focus on the need for safety at every event we run.
If you have an idea about something you would like to see addressed in a future issue, please let us know.
Oh, and don't forget that you can now log your participation as a SSS, or your attendance at or teaching of a Solo Safety class, on the SCCA website. You'll find that on your Profile Page under SCCA Leadership – Solo Safety Steward Participation. We're hoping that this online logging of events worked and training attended or taught will, eventually, lead to all of us being able to renew our SSS licenses online instead of having to mail in the renewal. But it won’t work unless or until you start using it.
Hope to see a bunch of you in Lincoln.
Until next we meet, GO FAST – HAVE FUN – BUT BE SAFE!
