Incident alert
ACTIVITY:
ACCESS & EGRESS & WORKING AT HEIGHT
TITLE
Fall through insecure hinged walkway on Finlay 683 Screener
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
United Kingdom
ACCIDENT / INCIDENT DETAILS
There are continuous catwalks around three sides of the Finlay 683 screener deck. The sections of catwalk on either side of the screener are hinged, so that they can be folded up and fixed to the catwalk handrails. There are two hinged mesh catwalks on each side of the screener.
The hinged top hinge pin of one catwalk had become disengaged and was therefore unsupported (the lower pin was still engaged). When a fitter stood on the top end of the mesh catwalk, as there was no lateral restraint, the catwalk deformed under his weight and pushed down through the framework. The fitter fell approximately 3 metres through the framework to the quarry floor.
ACCIDENT / INCIDENT IMAGES
Click image to enlarge
Meshwork walkway on Finlay 683 screener
LEARNING POINTS / ACTIONS TAKEN
Design fault – the catwalk hinge pins point in the same direction, so they are not locked in place and the catwalk can fall off its hinges. The manufacturers ‘Operating and Maintenance’ manual does not mention the need to check hinges when setting up the screener. Newer Finlay screeners have the hinge pins facing each other, so that the catwalk cannot fall off. To prevent recurrence, a large bolt has been fitted in front of each hinge pin (8 number in total) so that the catwalks cannot fall off again. Should it be necessary to remove a catwalk for say repair or replacement, then a fitter will remove the bolts. Suggested actions:
1/ Only fitters to set up/dismantle crushers/screeners.
2/ Provide suitable training on how to set up/dismantle crushers/screeners for plant operators. This should include a checklist.
3/ Review risk assessments and method statement to see how they can be improved.
4/ Use this accident as an example to other employees - to emphasise the importance of reporting machinery faults. Employees should not to be scared to report faults - even if they appear to be minor.
LEARNING POINTS / ACTIONS IMAGES
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