Safety evo
Life saving tips
When we talk about caught in between hazard, it is more effective to mention an actual case.
This event already occurred and the results were awful.
We already suffered a tough day when we saw one of our colleagues loosing his two arms.
The override of safety procedures put us in this situation.
The story will explain for you what happened.
The exact story
The crew were about to finish their shift. exactly 16:30 while performing a daily activity.
At a drilling rig location for which a contractor company works.
The scope of their work is to get rid of the cuttings comming out with the drilling mud.
As an environmental control process.
One of their equipment was a Screw Conveyor (auger) unit by which they are carrying the cuttings to be stored in cutting boxes.
The rotating Conveyor was stuck due to the accumulation of tough stone blocks.
The victim tried to remove these obstacles in order to facilitate the equipment’s operation.
But, instead of doing this process after proper isolation, he under-estimated the risk and decided to use his hands.
Few seconds later, the floor men heard him screaming out.
Unfortunately, they arrived too late to his location.
They found him laying on the ground with amputated arms
Screw Conveyor technical data
Understanding how this tool works can tell us how the caught in between event occurred.
This conveyor is driven by an electrical motor which rolls a screw pushing the product to a discharge end.
Then the product is discharged to be stored inside cutting boxes for environmental treatment or disposal
The entire screw conveyor has to be guarded by plate gratings
to prevent any contact with any part of the body.
Also, the electrical motor was supposed to be equipped with an emergency shut down button to isolate it in emergency situations.
Stand-alone control panels was being used to control the screw conveyor.
This control panel also contains an emergency shut down switch.
The absence of some of the design controls were the reasons behind this accident.
Missing controls
Remember what we mentioned before in a previous post about LOTO.
It is not allowed to perform any maintenance activity for any powered equipment unless after proper isolation.
So, before any cleaning process, workers must isolate the motor first.
This was mentioned clearly in the safe working procedure for the equipment.
unfortunately this was not done, the worker decided to do this activity without isolation.
And this was not the first time the workers act like that,
Previously, they used to do so and for this reason, they removed a plate of the grating guard.
to be able to clean the conveyor easily.
The removed part was the spot from where this caught in between accident initiated.
Another very important reason was that the ESD switch adjacent to the electrical motor was malfunctioned.
and nobody tried to repair it.
Lack of supervision was also a reason behind this accident.
As, in these situations it is not allowed for the workers to start an activity like this with no supervision.
Whatever the cause is, the result was catastrophic.
and a 20 yo young man lost his arms and may also his future.
Learned lessons
We cannot just watch these events and cry.
These activities are being carried out every day. So, thousands are exposed to the same destiny.
We need to analyze accidents and near misses to find what was the weak points and improve our performance.
From this accident we can learn some valuable lessons.
1- Never perform any maintenance for an energized equipment before isolation.
2- Always follow the safe working instructions advised by the manufacturer.
3- Our skills make us confident, but being over-confident may kill you.
4- Preventive maintenance is mandatory for all equipment.
5- Never override any safety barrier.
If you want to know more about some safety tips to prevent being pinned between equipment, we prepared this post for you.
Safety is a culture which costs nothing and saves everything.
This was an actual example of caught in between hazard and how painful can it be.
Remember that you promised your family to see them soon,
Do not miss your date with them by yourself.
Always avoid being inside the line of fire
