SAFETY INFORMATION IN MESSAGES OR LABELS IN THIS MANUAL AND ON THE MACHINE

Many accidents are the result of not following basic safety precautions and could have been avoided by recognizing potentially hazardous situations.

Proper risk assessment can prevent many accidents from occurring. During operation, always pay attention to the potential hazards near the machine and at your worksite.

• Improper operation, inspection, maintenance and repair could cause serious injury, death or property damage. Before operating, inspecting and maintaining this machine, carefully read and understand this manual, the related manuals, and any attachment manuals that may be provided to you.

• Only allow trained and experienced personnel to operate, to inspect and to maintain this machine. These individuals must also comply with all applicable employment, industry, and governmental rules, standards, and regulations.

Many safety messages in this manual or on the labels on this machine contain signal words. Signal words are used to identify safety messages and property damage messages and designate a level of hazard seriousness. Many of these safety messages may also contain avoidance information.

This safety alert symbol identifies important safety messages in this manual. When you see this symbol, be alert, your safety is involved, carefully read the message that follows, and inform other operators.

The three signal words are DANGER, WARNING and CAUTION. Each alerts the viewer to the existence and relative seriousness of a hazard. They are reserved for personal injury hazards. Safety signs identified by DANGER shall be used sparingly and only for those situations presenting the most serious hazards. Hazards identified by WARNING present a lesser degree of risk of injury or death than those identified by DANGER.

DANGER indicates a hazard with a high level of risk which, if not avoided, will result in death or serious injury.

WARNING indicates a hazard with a medium level of risk which, if not avoided, could result in death or serious injury.

CAUTION indicates a hazard with a low level of risk which, if not avoided, could result in minor or moderate injury.

Other than the above-mentioned signal words, the following words identify important information which must be kept for the protection of the machine and may be helpful for the operator.

Notice indicates information considered important, but not hazard related (e.g., messages related to property damage)

Note indicates information that may be helpful for the operator.

Safety Labels

Safety labels are affixed to machine to alert the operator and surrounding personnel of hazardous situations during operation, inspection or maintenance. There are two types of "safety labels" on this machine. One is "SAFETY LABEL INCLUDING SIGNALWORDS" and the other is "PICTORIAL ONLY SAFETY LABELS".

Example of the safety label including signal words

Example of a pictorial only safety label

The pictorial only safety label is used to alert the operator and surrounding personnel of potentially hazardous situations. For pictorial only safety label, the hazard pictorial is in the upper or left box, and the avoidance information is in the lower or right box.

Summary Of The Machine

Applicable Works

Use this machine in the following applications:

• Digging

• Trenching

• Loading

• Leveling

• Demolishing

Never use the machine for any purpose other than the above applications. For details of work procedures, please refer to "MACHINE OPERATION" in Chapter 3 and "OPTIONAL EQUIPMENT" in Chapter 8.

FRONT, REAR, RIGHT & LEFT OF THE MACHINE

This manual refers to the front, rear, right & left of this machine as seen when sitting in the operator's seat with the machine in the normal travel position. The normal travel position is when the idler wheels are positioned at the front under the cab and the drive sprockets are positioned at the rear.

BREAK-IN OPERATION

Prior to shipment, this machine was inspected and adjusted by KOBELCO. Future performance and service life of this machine depends on how the machine is operated during the break-in period.

During the break-in period

• Always sufficiently warm-up the engine and the hydraulic oil.

• Do not operate with loads that exceed the recommended load status for each phase shown in the table or operate at high speeds.

• Do not perform a sudden start, sudden acceleration, or other sudden changes in engine speed.

• Avoid unnecessary sudden stops or sudden changes in driving direction.

• Do not operate the engine at high speed for extended periods of time.

Operating with heavy loads during the first 100 hours of operation may significantly affect the performance and the life of the machine. Use extreme caution if operating with heavy loads during the break-in period.

Qualification For Operating The Machine

If a license or other special qualification is required to operate a hydraulic excavator in the country where this machine will be operated, all operators of this machine must meet those requirements and have a valid (not expired) license or qualification.