The presence of
pillar or pedestal drills in our facilities is commonplace. Their presence in
our plants has been for so long that many plants fail to acknowledge the
hazard. Their failure to acknowledge is not done with malice. But, in many ways
these plants have a false safety belief which is only realized after an
incident. Here is a recent story showing the hazard of this machinery:
An engineering
firm in the United Kingdom had been fined during the month of September 2016, £10,000
after a worker required a skin graft after he sustained serious injuries when
his arm became entangled in a drilling machine.
The worker was
operating a pedestal drilling machine to drill holes into some box section
tubing. He was adjusting the work piece while the drill was still running when
his gloved hand became twisted with the unguarded drill bit.
The local court
heard how the worker suffered two broken bones in his right forearm in the
incident.
The Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) told the court that injuries could have been prevented
if the drill was guarded with a telescopic guard covering the rotating drill
bit, the injured person had not been wearing gloves, a suitable and sufficient
risk assessment had been completed to identify required control measures and if
the employee had received proper training.
The engineering
company manufactures equipment for the material handling and logistics sector,
admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £2,168.73 in costs.
Speaking after the
hearing, HSE inspector, said: “It is vital that companies understand the
importance of using suitable guarding when employees are operating drilling
machines as there are significant risks involved which may lead to serious
personal injury.
“Other simple
measures such as not wearing gloves can be taken to eliminate the risk of
entanglement involved with operating drilling machines or any other machinery
with moving/rotating parts.”
The Aluminium Plant
Safety Blog prays that the worker recovers fully from his injuries. We hope
that this worker will be given physical and mental health counseling to cope
with this horrific injury.
A vast majority of
pedestal drills in our plants are older in age. It would not surprise us that many
pedestal drills are older than the workers that use them. The APSB has always
stated that there is nothing wrong with older machinery. But, plants have to
acknowledge that older machinery may lack current safety mechanisms. We would
recommend that on a regular basis review all machinery in your facility. Any machinery
older than 5 years should be identified. Then the make and model of the
machinery should be compared to a brand new machine regarding safety mechanisms.
If your machine lacks the current safety mechanisms you should consult with the
equipment manufacturer on the steps to update your machine.
DO NOT MODIFY OR CHANGE A MACHINE WITHOUT
THE ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS CONSULTATION AND APPROVAL
There have been
numerous incidents that a contributing cause was the modification of equipment.
We cannot stress enough please note do not modify, alter, change equipment
without consulting the original equipment manufacturer.
Here is a great
website about pedestal drill safety:
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