A lack of operator training and equipment inspections are major causes of job-site accidents. Don’t let that happen to you and your employees. Sign up for training or schedule your next inspection. But first, read on for the June 2022 accidents.
Scissor Structural Failure
We are reprinting this article from Vertikal.net originally published on June 10, 2022
A contractor working on an electrical transmission substation upgrade in the UK has issued a safety bulletin following a structural failure on a heavy duty 82ft scissor lift last week.
The incident occurred at the Bicker Fen Converter Station on the Viking Link Project for the National Grid. Four men were working from the platform at a height of around five metres installing cladding to the inner blast wall, when the platform dropped and descended under gravity as oil poured out from the lift cylinder.
Two of the men sustained minor injuries, one to his ribs and the other a possible knee ligament injury. Both were taken to hospital by ambulance for assessment.
It appears that the scissor lift’s chassis broke its back, whether this was the cause of the failure or it occurred as a result of the sudden descent has yet to be determined. The lift is an 82ft Holland Lift 250Dl27 from the Riwal fleet, with a working height of 27 metres and a capacity of 1,000kg on its 6.15 metre platform.
The contractor, Siemens Energy, has called for all models of this type to be withdrawn from service and subjected to a full formal inspection and calls on staff to check that all of the required six monthly inspections have been carried out.
A statement from Riwal said:
“Due to the fact that this is an ongoing investigation, we can’t share any further details at this point in time. At the time of this statement, no major injuries have been confirmed.
Safety is the fundamental value of Riwal and we have taken decisive steps to assess all machines on the UK fleet of the same model. I can confirm that these additional inspections have taken place now and all units have passed.
We can also confirm the machine in question complies with all local (UK) compliance with a valid LOLER (Thorough Examination) at the time of the incident.”
Holland Lift managing director Chris Kochheim said: “Let me start by saying that our thoughts are with the people who were operating the machine at the time the incident occurred. Fortunately, the injuries seem to be minor, but every injury is one too many. We wish them a speedy recovery.”
“For your information, we have sent out a notice to our contacts, of which a short version is listed below:”
Subject: Safety notice Holland Lift Scissor Lift M-250 product line
Background
Recently, we have been informed about an incident which involved a Holland Lift M-250 machine which was manufactured more than 10 years ago. A first preliminary analysis of the facts points to a situation where a crack in a chassis plate has propagated for some time resulting ultimately in the rupture of this plate. Since the launch of this model, over 250 units have been produced and this is the first time we have to investigate this structural failure.
Even though Holland Lift will conduct further in-depth investigations on this machine itself to determine the root cause conclusively, we are now informing customers and are providing an inspection instruction. If required, Holland lift will come with a further recommendation after the outcome of this analysis is available.Holland Lift will contact fleet owners with further information.
Required action
In addition to the regular inspection instructions, Holland Lift requires that a thorough inspection will have to be carried out on all scissor lifts of the afore mentioned scissor lift type.
Vertikal Comment
There is possibly a question here whether this safety alert fully meets the safety alert protocol as published by IPAF and the UK Strategic Forum which includes the major contractors. While there was clearly a serious failure, the exact cause has yet to be determined.
However, it does at the very least warn owners and users to inspect the chassis and lift cylinder attachment points of any such machines that they own, checking for free movement of the cylinder pivot points and scissor arms and the presence of any cracks or signs of stress in the structural components – but that applies to all scissor lifts all of the time. Incidents such as this highlight the importance of proper daily inspections as well as the formal six month inspections, even in areas where this is not a legal requirement.
Click here to see the IPAF statement on issuing safety alerts and to download the agreed protocol
Thankfully everyone got to go home at the end of the day and the damage appears to be limited to the machine itself.
Excavator operator hospitalized after Langford roll-over incident
This article is reprinted from the Vancouver Island Free Daily, originally published June 8, 2022.
A heavy equipment operator was sent to hospital with serious, but not life-threatening injuries after an excavator toppled down a 50-foot cliff in Langford Wednesday morning.
Langford Fire Rescue Chief Chris Aubrey said crews were called to 757 Latoria Rd. near Goldspur Road just before 8:30 a.m. for a possible high-angle rescue.
While en route to the scene, crews were informed it was an excavator rollover and rescue would not be required as the operator was out of the vehicle, Aubrey said. The operator had nonetheless been seriously injured and was treated on scene by paramedics before being transported to hospital.
Fire crews cleaned up a fuel leak caused by the incident and turned over the scene to the construction site crews ahead of an expected WorkSafeBC investigation into the incident.
Both bodies recovered from St. Paul trench collapse site
This article is reprinted from KSTP.com, written by Erik Altmann, on June 17, 2022. The original article also has videos posted and additional pictures, so click through to view those.
UPDATE: The bodies of both victims have been recovered from the trench collapse site, St. Paul firefighters said at 3:42 a.m. Saturday.
INITIAL REPORT: Two people are dead after a reported trench collapse at a construction site in St. Paul, according to St. Paul Assistant Fire Chief Matt Simpson.
The assistant chief said firefighters responded to a report of a collapse just before 3 p.m. on the 700 block of Mount Curve Boulevard in the Highland Park neighborhood.
One worker, who was not in the trench at the time, was able to call 911. According to the St. Paul fire department, despite a quick response, emergency officials were unable to rescue the two people.
“Due to the size of the boulders and the amount of soil that was in the trench that is likely would have caused significant trauma injuries as well as asphyxia if we weren’t able to get there in a very very short time frame,” explained Assitant Fire Chief Matt Simpson, adding he feels “horrible for the victims when anything like happens.”
“We train for this every day we work to make sure if it can be avoided that it is avoided,” Simpson said.
Shortly after 9:00 p.m., one body was recovered from the trench. Fire officials say they will stay on-scene overnight until the second body is recovered.
“It’s scary,” says Annika Anderson, a resident in the neighborhood. “I have never seen anything like this — seen it pretty close up.”
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says from 2003 to 2017, there were 373 deaths involving trenches, most of them in the construction industry. According to the CDC, one square yard of dirt can weigh more than 3,000 lbs, which is the weight of a compact car.
The CDC says trench collapses are rarely survivable but preventable. One way to prevent them is by using a ‘trench box.’ A KSTP crew says there appeared to be one at the scene of the accident.
If you see an accident report you’d like us to feature in the blog, like the ones shown here in the June 2022 Accidents Reports, let us know. Contact heather@cranes101.com with the information.