COMMENT: The so-called ‘rule of six’ in the UK is a COVID-19 regulation that restricts social gatherings to a maximum of six people. If the regulation is breached then the offending party can be fined up to GB£3200.00 (US$4095.00), writes Mike Mundy.
The introduction of this new rule has been the cause of some controversy as it has been suggested by some senior government ministers that should anyone become aware of neighbours or friends or anyone in general breaking this regulation then it is quite alright to report them to the authorities or to put it in British parlance “to dob them in!”
“Dobbing in” is an English phrase which is particularly associated with English public schools and basically involves one pupil telling on another – i.e. bringing to the attention of the teaching staff some sort of wrong-doing on the part of a fellow pupil.
In this context and generally, the practice is widely frowned upon, being seen by many as bordering on unethical or to use another English phrase “not the done thing".
Given this view of the world – shared by many in the UK – it is thus interesting to read the article in this issue of PS by the Confidential Incident Reporting & Analysis Service (CIRAS) which maps out the practice of confidential reporting and the positive role it can play in promoting port and terminal safety.
As its name suggests, confidential reporting is a formalised system of reporting incidents or making suggestions in a safety and other contexts with complete anonymity.
It has a track record outside the port sector of being highly successful in delivering meaningful feedback from the front line leading to positive enhancements in safety programmes etc.
Clearly, there is good potential for use of the concept in the ports sector in a safety context and in other areas too. The fundamental difference between confidential reporting and ‘dobbing in’ is that the former is intended to have a constructive purpose whereas the latter is invariably conducted with some degree of malice or spite involved.
The scope for the use of the system is also further underlined by the article in this issue which looks at the comprehensive risk assessment exercise recently conducted in conjunction with container terminals in Tanjung Priok, Indonesia.
The assessment undertaken identifies 16 causes of high-risk accidents and in response to these details 14 “Risk Control Options” covering a wide range of measures across both front line and back-up activities in a container terminal.
The two articles either directly or implicitly highlight the importance of good communication as a path to promoting safe working practices. The value of this is further highlighted in The Strategist column in the news pages which addresses the increasingly complex nature of the relationship between port authorities and their tenants, and in particular the importance of maintaining a level playing field between different terminal operations.
Management in the ports sector is generally becoming more challenging, but on the other hand industry professionals and associated bodies are becoming increasingly innovative in meeting today’s challenges.
