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UK News - Breaking news in the field of health and safety
Entanglement hazard poses great threat to groundwork ......
Entanglement hazard poses great threat to groundwork drillers
An employee of a Scottish groundwork company narrowly escaped death when he became entangled with the drill string on a Halco 450 drilling rig. He sustained multiple fractures to both arms and a broken elbow while working on a project during May 2006 in Penicuik, Midlothian. His employer, Consolidate Ltd of Livingston, admitted breaching S.2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in the circumstances of the incident for which Edinburgh Sheriff's Court fined it £3,500.
HSE is warning operators of this and similar kinds of equipment featuring rotating parts that it has identified the guarding of drilling rigs as a priority area and will be carrying out a series of targeted inspections on this work area in 2007.
BDA guidance
A fixed guard should be used for the majority of drilling work as the primary method of preventing access to the dangerous parts of the machinery.
HSE points out that in April 2006 CET Group Ltd was prosecuted in England following an accident on a lorry-mounted auger drill, which also had defective and inadequate guarding, it wishes to direct the industry's attention to Guidance Notes for the Protection of Persons from Rotating Parts & Ejected or Falling Material Involved in the Drilling Process, produced by The British Drilling Association (BDA) in association with industry and HSE published guidance. This 2000-published document explains the hierarchy of control measures necessary to protect against entanglement and is available from the BDA.
Comment:
"This was a particularly nasty accident and could have been totally avoided if the correct health and safety procedures had been followed. The HSE welcomes the fine and hopes that it will act as a stiff reminder to all companies using drilling equipment and other heavy machinery that they are responsible for ensuring the safety of their employees. They should act before it's too late.
Rotating parts of machinery present an obvious risk of entanglement to persons able to access them during rotation. This is particularly hazardous where there are projecting parts such as drill bits liable to catch in clothing.
Safe operation of this machine relied on training, experience and close supervision all of which were very limited in this case. The only safety system present on the machine was a single trip wire, which was not operating correctly and was not checked regularly. There were also no written instructions detailing the work methods to ensure safety." - The HSE Inspector involved in the case.
