New Zealand

November, 2019 New Zealand

Safety Alert contributed by MinEx

Two fitters were fitting a 3-tonne front axle assembly onto a loader. A spreader bar was used to allow the correct placement of the two slings on each end of the axle. Each sling was attached to the spreader bar via a 3.2 tonne rated bow shackle. To centre the axle under the bucket lift arms, the load was picked up and put down multiple times as it was manoeuvred into place. Each time the load was put down, the bow shackle on the western end (closest to camera in picture) was undone so the sling could be re-run past each of the loader lift arms before being attached to the spreader bar with the bow shackle again. Once centred, the axle was being lifted off the cribbage when the west side sling dropped, the spreader bar flung around and landed on top of the loader bucket, and the axle dropped onto the cribbing and then slid off onto the floor.

Key learnings from this incident

You need to ensure that:

Where practical, other devices (e.g. skates etc) for moving axles into place are used that do not require the use of repeated lifts.

Review lifting processes and where possible replace bow shackles with safety hooks.

When lifting ensure that no-one is in the fall zone of the item being lifted.

All workers are trained and regularly assessed as competent in safe lifting procedures.

You regularly inspect all equipment used for lifting.

Incident Gallery

February 2020 Johnson County, Tennessee

OUTCOME: FATALITY A 29-year old man died in February 2020 after equipment came loose from the Rough Terrain crane he was operating on a ranch in Johnson County, Tennessee. Contracted to move and level silos on the private property, reports indicate that the overhaul ball on the auxiliary winch line loosened, swung down, and struck the man. Despite life-saving efforts by emergency services, the man tragically succumbed to his injuries. A full investigation has been launched by authorities.

September 2019 Glasgow, Scotland

OUTCOME: NEAR MISS

There was a near miss in Glasgow, Scotland, in September 2019 when a supporting chain snapped leaving a crane’s load dangling precariously over the side of a hotel construction site. The Jaso luffer was using a spreader bar rigged with two inboard chain sets attached to lugs on the load, when one of the chains broke. The operator wisely stopped the operation and waited for the load to stabilise before slewing the pod carefully over the roof and lowering it to safety. The £400m Moxy Hotel development suspended lifting operations while an investigation took place.

October 2019 Cleveland, Ohio

OUTCOME: SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE

An investigation into an incident in Cleveland, Ohio, in October 2019 determined that a load was too heavy for the lifting slings used causing the tower crane to drop several steel beams 100m onto a parking garage below. The impact of the beams caused a partial collapse of the top floor, but fortunately no one was injured. OSHA fined the construction company US$39,780 for three serious violations including overloading the rigging; failing to ensure the nylon straps used to lift the steel beams were in good condition; and failing to ensure no one was working underneath the steel beams when they were loaded on the crane.