"The company had been warned before...."

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog is honored to tour many facilities around the world. During our site visits we have the opportunity to talk to workers in all sorts of positions. One question we always ask to machine operators is about their procedure to clear hangups, clogs, etc. The answers given are varied. On occasion an operator will talk about safe isolation (lock out tag out), but it is rare. The APSB has posted incident after incident where workers have been injured and killed because they fail to follow safety protocol. We acknowledge that some machines may clog repeated during a worker’s shift. But as this instance will emphasize that making assumptions around machinery is dangerous.

An aluminium recycler was sentenced in an English Magistrates Court during the week of May 1, 2015 over serious safety dangers on a conveyor at its site in late 2013. The machinery which the worker was injured working on in December 2013

The Court heard that the worker had been attempting to remove a blockage from the conveyor. He had believed the machine would need an electrician to restart it once it had cut out.

However, once the worker had cleared the debris the machine started running and his arm was drawn in. He suffered three breaks to his arm and a cracked shoulder blade as a result of the incident.

The injured worker required surgery to remove a nerve from his calf to try to repair the arm damage, which resulted in a loss of feeling in his leg. He has not been able to return to work since.

An investigation carried out by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found a guard by the tail drum where the worker was operating had been removed and there was no emergency stop button.

HSE told the Court that the tail drum of the conveyor had previously had a mesh guard but this had been removed at some point prior to the incident. And, while there was an emergency stop cord down one side of the conveyor, there was nothing immediately to hand by the tail drum.

HSE noted that guarding on the whole conveyor was insufficient, with the aluminium recycler, implementing no management system to check that guards were in place and that emergency pull cords were working. The company had also received written advice from HSE in May 2013 relating to the guarding of end drums on other conveyors on the site.

The aluminium company pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was also ordered to pay costs of £1,595.

After the hearing, HSE inspector said: “This was a horrifying incident that has left the worker with perhaps a permanent physical impairment. It also had a profound psychological impact on him at a crucial time for a young family.

“Incidents of this kind occur all too frequently in the recycling sector and the onus is on companies, like this, to acknowledge the dangers posed by unguarded machinery in general, and tail end drums of conveyors in particular, and to take action. The company had been warned before and there can be no excuse for its subsequent failings.”

She added: “Employers have a duty to ensure that machinery is properly guarded and should take steps to ensure that guards remain in place. HSE will continue to prosecute when worker safety is compromised.”

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog prays that overtime the injured worker can lead a productive life. The series of mistakes, faults that resulted in this incident could have been prevented. It is our sincere hope that those mistakes have been corrected in this plant to prevent this incident from recurring.

This worker made a momentary lapse in judgement that he will have to deal with for the rest of his life. The APSB does not place blame on this worker, nor any worker. We hope, we pray, we preach when we visit plants that workers who make a momentary lapse in judgement, making an assumption, guessing, etc. can result in an injury or their death. On occasion we will give a presentation to aluminium plants about the most recent incidents. For some incidents the attendees will ask “what was the worker thinking?”. We sadly reply, “We’ll never know because the dead do not speak.”

The Occupational Safety & Health Administration has some useful information regarding lock out tag out programs. It can be viewed here.

Whereas the Health & Safety Executive information regarding safe isolation programs can be downloaded here.

The Aluminium Times had an article about safe isolation. It can be viewed below.

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