Choosing the Right Equipment
Aug 19, 2010
Choosing the right equipment for a job may have prevented a major accident resulting in a broken back for a maintenance worker.
A 61- year old maintenance worker was carrying out a routine task to locate an oil leak on a machine when he fell more than two metres from a tower scaffold. There had never been a guard rail on one edge of the platform as it was thought that this would interefere with access.
The worker fell from the uprotected edge and suffered one broken vertebra, one crushed vertebra and was immobilised for more than six weeks.
If the company had chosen the correct access equipment with guard rails, this accident would not have happened. The company was fined £8,000 with nearly £2,000 costs.
Mark Dalton, Wilby Risk Management comments "This case is unfortunately not unique. On a recent site inspection in Central London, I witnessed two workers building an internal wall over three metres above the floor level.
Due to the configuration of the tower scaffold and the ceiling height, they could not fit the top guard rails in position and so were working without edge protection. When checking with the Site Manager, we found an alternative tower scaffold that would have been ideal for this job allowing full guard railing at the platform".
For further information on this topic please contact us now on 01422 358 525 or email info@wilbyltd.co.uk
