i completely agree but…where does it end?
While gravity is a constant and predictable, we cannot predict when a drone will be used, by who or where, nor can we take that information and consider all those things to then determine the risk that drone poses (what exactly are the risks?)
If Drones are suddenly going to be falling out of the sky (there isn’t much of a risk that they will or do) then surely we need to consider every other potential threat simply because it could…right?
A driver of a delivery van falling unconscious resulting in them ploughing down pedestrians on the street during a parade
The village fete burger van gas bottles exploding
An over enthusiastic toddler waving a flag at an airshow, causing head/eye injury
Campfire going out of control of the general public group next to the DofE group i am supervising.
I am not suggesting there is no risk - but if we need to consider the very unlikely risk posed by a drone, then we need to also include those risks which have the same likelihood of occurring also, else we’re picking and choosing the risks we choose to identify at random - which is not how safety management works
to quote Donald Rumsfeld - there are known knowns and in my plan, my “known known” is that Drones do not pose a risk to me or my group sufficiently that i would include it in a RA to then also consider control measures (what should those control measures be by the way?)
if you/the PME process is asking us to “have a plan” then that suggests there are control measures available we should be considering in advance should the risk pose itself.
my concern being that we cannot know in advance if the risk will be there - we are considering a risk which might never present itself in 99 occurrences and on that 1 time it does…turned out fine without implementing any control measures (see my examples at a theme park and country park in the last month - i took no “risk avoidance” action having spotted the drone, the most I did was to point it out to the family, and secondly identify who the pilot was - neither of which are valid control measures which reduce the risk.
respectfully i disagree.
in my civilian life, and professional career I am very familiar with RAs and what should be included, and that is what is expected from the activity.
I would not consider a drowning risk in the case of a classification based radio lesson - yet it feels like this is your approach for any activity which takes place outside with public access.
on a navigation walk around the local common, i must think ahead and consider a drone being on site, despite never seeing a drone there in the 12 years I have been visiting that site, either in a CFAV or personal capacity.
ie the likelihood of the risk being present is minimum to negligible, before we even consider the severity of the risk.
as such I do not feel it is necessary to consider the risk of drones every time we step outside, be that for AT, FC, community based event, camp, airshow visit, or otherwise.
it becomes pointless if it is on there by default and is a risk which 99% of the time is never present to need control (And on the occasion it is present, doesn’t require “controlling”)
while the weather/climate is a valid control measure when outside, the risk from drones is equal to that of being bitten by a uncontrolled dog - present but so unlikely and out of my control that it is pointless considering it as a risk, and even more so suitable control measures to guard against a risk which might never present itself.
I was as i saw something and reacted. how often are we expecting Drones to fall out of the sky/pose a risk to use that they need consideration?
