37000 Feet | Browse and search NASA's Aviation Safety Reporting System |
|
Attributes | |
ACN | 1692176 |
Time | |
Date | 201910 |
Aircraft 1 | |
Make Model Name | No Aircraft |
Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
Person 1 | |
Function | Other / Unknown |
Events | |
Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy |
Narrative:
It is very troubling to me to be here writing another report on chocks being left on the ramp areas less than 5 months after filing a similar one. Additionally this report went to the trouble of raising a [safety alert] on the serious safety issue; to date it has been ignored. Taking into account that a mechanic from ZZZ is still in the hospital since early may after driving over a chock and has undergone countless surgeries. What is it going to take for [company] to get serious about this inherently dangerous safety issue and correct it?this raises many questions from the front line employees. Who in senior leadership has bought off and signed off; accepting the risk that this is an acceptable practice. Everything we do at [company] requires a [safety assessment] risk matrix and then be signed off. I want to know who at [company] preformed this [assessment] and signed off on it? This by the way is a serious question; because when the next person gets injured they will need to know who to go to for accountability on this.at this point it is a willful disregard for safety and in osha standards; a willful violation; as osha have cited [company] for the incident in ZZZ from what was shared with us.because I am very aware everyone on this [report] is very familiar with the potential dangers and injuries (up to fatalities) associated with chocks on the ramp I don't need to go into too much more detail here in this [report].however; as more and more front line employees approach me and ask what can be done to correct this; they bring up some subtleties that are not initially apparent; not only are they a driving hazard; they are also a trip as they are everywhere as you can see from some of the attached pictures. Then they blend in with the shadows of the jet bridges; ramp personnel are driving looking at their bag scanners; hit chocks and lose control of their tugs. Now we are fast approaching winter and the chocks will blend in with the wet/dark ramp; and get covered in snow.bottom line nobody should be put in the situation where they drive over a chock even with a seatbelt on; or trip over a chock; be hit by another vehicle that goes out of control from hitting a chock. Again this has nothing to do with our values and everything to do with doing what is right.I have attached a few pictures most taken today as I was in and out of the zones at the terminal. Sadly every gate that did not have an aircraft had chocks strewn all over the ramp. It's the same every day. I scratch my head and think; [company] has a real high tolerance for risk.hopefully; we can get a policy enforcement on this otherwise it will need to be brought the very top.pick the chocks up off the ramp and place them on a chock cart or chock rack when they are 'chocking' the aircraft tires. We designed a chock gate cart several years ago for the ramp at ZZZ1. Big enough to hold enough chocks for the largest aircraft every gate could accommodate. It had a small footprint and was easily pulled around but the airport operations group had no interest? We put extra chock containers at our hangar ramp areas also; and the problem has improved a lot at the hangar ramps.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Maintenance technician reported that careless placement of wheel chocks on the airport ramp created a safety hazard.
Narrative: It is very troubling to me to be here writing another report on chocks being left on the ramp areas less than 5 months after filing a similar one. Additionally this report went to the trouble of raising a [Safety Alert] on the serious safety issue; to date it has been ignored. Taking into account that a mechanic from ZZZ is still in the hospital since early May after driving over a chock and has undergone countless surgeries. What is it going to take for [company] to get serious about this inherently dangerous safety issue and correct it?This raises many questions from the front line employees. Who in senior leadership has bought off and signed off; accepting the risk that this is an acceptable practice. Everything we do at [company] requires a [safety assessment] risk matrix and then be signed off. I want to know who at [company] preformed this [assessment] and signed off on it? This by the way is a serious question; because when the next person gets injured they will need to know who to go to for accountability on this.At this point it is a willful disregard for safety and in OSHA standards; a willful violation; as OSHA have cited [company] for the incident in ZZZ from what was shared with us.Because I am very aware everyone on this [report] is very familiar with the potential dangers and injuries (up to fatalities) associated with chocks on the ramp I don't need to go into too much more detail here in this [report].However; as more and more front line employees approach me and ask what can be done to correct this; they bring up some subtleties that are not initially apparent; not only are they a driving hazard; they are also a trip as they are everywhere as you can see from some of the attached pictures. Then they blend in with the shadows of the jet bridges; ramp personnel are driving looking at their bag scanners; hit chocks and lose control of their tugs. Now we are fast approaching winter and the chocks will blend in with the wet/dark ramp; and get covered in snow.Bottom line nobody should be put in the situation where they drive over a chock even with a seatbelt on; or trip over a chock; be hit by another vehicle that goes out of control from hitting a chock. Again this has nothing to do with our values and everything to do with doing what is right.I have attached a few pictures most taken today as I was in and out of the zones at the terminal. Sadly every gate that did not have an aircraft had chocks strewn all over the ramp. It's the same every day. I scratch my head and think; [company] has a real high tolerance for risk.Hopefully; we can get a policy enforcement on this otherwise it will need to be brought the very top.Pick the chocks up off the ramp and place them on a chock cart or chock rack when they are 'chocking' the aircraft tires. We designed a chock gate cart several years ago for the ramp at ZZZ1. Big enough to hold enough chocks for the largest aircraft every gate could accommodate. It had a small footprint and was easily pulled around but the Airport Operations group had no interest? We put extra chock containers at our hangar ramp areas also; and the problem has improved a lot at the hangar ramps.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.