Maintenance
Removing the hazard and increasing safety HIGHLIGHTING THE IMPORTANCE OF RISK ELIMINATION, KAL TIRE’S INNOVATION CENTRE HAS RELEASED THE MAGNET CLAMP, A SOLUTION WHICH AIMS TO PROTECT TYRE OPERATORS IN THE WORKPLACE WHILE ALSO IMPROVING EFFICIENCY.
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here is an ongoing commitment to improve safety at mining operations when it comes to protecting workers around mobile equipment. Personal protective equipment gives the worker a degree of safety while administrative controls such as legislative requirements are for companies to follow and change the way people work. However, the potential for injury is still there despite these measures. The most effective way to improve safety in the workplace is to physically remove the hazard. Kal Tire Australia operations health and safety manager Scott Laurie says his company uses a guideline called the ‘hierarchy of controls’ in order to identify the best way to keep its team members and customers safe. “Controlling exposures to occupational hazards is a fundamental method of protecting workers,” Laurie says. “Traditionally, hierarchy of controls has been used as a means of determining how to implement feasible and effective solutions to control hazards and their associated risks in the workplace.” Laurie says Kal Tire uses the hierarchy of controls to ensure a continual improvement in safety for its team members when removing wheel assemblies from heavy mobile equipment.
Kal Tire’s Innovation Centre in Canada developed its latest offering, the Magnet Clamp.
“During the initial stages, Kal Tire implemented procedures which defined for the tyre technician how to conduct the task of safely removing a wheel assembly,” he says. “That involved procedures for when they got the tyre handler into position, the operator then shuts down the handler, gets out of the machine, and then the tyre technician would then enter the risk zone between the tyre handler and the actual tyre and wheel assembly. It was through these hierarchy of controls that the company’s Innovation Centre in Canada developed its latest offering, the Magnet Clamp. Laurie says the key safety benefit from this device is it actually eliminates risk to team members by removing them directly from the risk zone.
SAFETOWORK.COM.AU 28 JAN-FEB 2022
“The removal of wheel assemblies is one of the key tasks that Kal Tire technicians carry out within the business, and safety is paramount for those individuals,” he says. “Part of that process is changing out the tyre and wheel assemblies from heavy mobile equipment and what was normally required in our business was for our tyre service personnel to actually get between the tyre handler and the actual tyre that they are changing.” Laurie says the original procedure outlined that all the lug nuts are removed except the remaining ones at the three o’clock and nine o’clock positions in order to prevent the wheel from shifting and potentially injuring an team member. “One of the risks of getting into that zone is obviously the tyre moving and
