| Maintenance of Roxon feeder |
When emptying material from the Roxon feeder, quarry staff needed to enter the hopper to clear the final amount of material from the reciprocating feeder plate. To carry out this task the team was required to follow the safe system of work which involved completing a permit to work, reviewing the risk assessment and implementing the lock off procedure.
Employees entering the feeder were required to wear a fall arrest harness and lanyard to access the hopper. Wooden blocks were lowered into the hopper to push the material forward as required. These blocks had to be placed into position one at a time which involved the person accessing the feeder a number of times. The person had to then leave the hopper, activate it to move the block forward and then to isolate and lock off before re-entry. The task was time consuming, had access and egress issues and involved manual handling.
It was decided to manufacture a steel plate which would fit onto the reciprocating tray with a quick hitch attachment which could then be fitted to the site excavator. The excavator would then lower the plate into the hopper at the rear of the feeder plate and gradually push the material forward. It has removed the need to enter the hopper to remove any material and has eliminated the problems associated with the previous method. |
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