MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 FOREWORD
Thousands of excavator quick hitches are currently working with no safety system. It is required under Australian standards to have a mechanically locking safety system. This is provided to purchasers of new semi automatic quick hitches in the form of a manual pin. Quick hitches that require manual safety pins are lethal. Without a safety pin installed the quick hitch has no safety system, no fail safe, and in the event of a primary retention system failure the attachment will fall off. There are many reasons for failure, atrophied or missing O ring, contaminated oil, worn seals, damaged rams, wrong pin dimensions, egg shaped hydraulic cylinders, hose burst or mechanical failure. The other way is operator error. Operators regularly pick up buckets to move them or place them in a truck without engaging any form of retention. This is called pick and place, or pick and carry. In this situation the attachment is just resting in the fixed jaw and is not mechanically retained in any way. Excavator quick hitches are designed to release the attachment. That is their function. They are functioning their purpose when they release. There are many causes for accidental release, by design of the electronic switch or a human error, the attachment can unexpectedly fall off through a failure of matching parts, the flick of a switch or a system failure. If there is a toggle switch instead of the two stage key lockout box as required under the standards, it can be inadvertently activated by a cabin item such as a helmet or drink bottle resting on it. A non spring type toggle with no alarm would not signal to the operator that the quick hitch is engaged. If any of this seems a little far fetched, I can assure you that it has happened, and it has resulted in deaths. In 17 years of excavator operation I have seen the industry struggle to accept safety as an integral part of quick hitch use. Policies and procedures seem to be the only tool at the disposal of safety managers, this is called a soft control measure. When words are the principle component of your safety system you have prime ground for a catastrophe. The problem with a policy or a procedure is that it requires someone to do it. A metal bar is a mechanical means of retention, but it is not an Engineering solution. Under no circumstances is that to be taken as an Engineering solution. If it were an engineering solution it would be automatic and would happen as an integral part of the operation of the QH. Unless the manual pin is the correct one for the QH, placed in the right location, in a safe environment, every, single, time, it is merely a steel rod on a table. It requires a human action, a process. That process has to be created, taught and understood. Who is providing training? Who is inspecting? This is called an Administrative level of control, and it is second from last in the order in which controls must be implemented. When controlling risk you must first attempt to eliminate the hazard. What is the hazard? What is the risk? People often confuse the two, and in doing so they are going about controlling the risk the wrong way. The quick hitch is the hazard, accidental detachment is the risk. The Hierarchy of Controls is the order in which the controls must be implemented. At the top of the list is Eliminate. Remove the quick hitch and pin the attachment to the boom. Page 2
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 Risk of accidental detachment is removed permanently. Substitution, Substitute product A for product B to reduce the risk of accidental detachment. Swap semi automatics for front or double locking automatics. A far superior product, risk controlled. In Australia we now have an extra level of control management, not shown in the above diagramIsolation, where we isolate the energy source from the person. Engineering solutions is a way to engineer the problem away. Automation of a previous manual task is an example. Administrative control is words, policies, procedures, SWMS. PPE is the lowest form, and the last form of control. An example would be to wear a hardhat in case the bucket fell on you. When you have arrived at PPE as your primary risk control, you must have first eliminated every other risk control before it. If PPE is your first defence, it is also your last. PPE, as control, means you will allow the mechanism of injury to occur, and defend the man against injury by PPE. Why don’t operators use the pin? There may be a myriad of reasons, some completely justified, why the procedure wasn't followed - it may well be an unworkable policy in every situation. It would be beyond the rational reasoning of a safety manager or a company owner to allow the operator to make up their own mind on when to use a safety pin, their policies state it must be used at all times, but there will be times when it is not reasonable, practical nor safe to do so. I personally have completed 60 + bucket changes a day. Once every 6 minutes. That is 120 cabin movements. There are injuries every year associated with quick hitches, although deaths are much less often, and in that we are both cursed and blessed. With the relatively few deaths occurring in Australia from quick hitch related incidents there is no impetus for change as the low death rate is often cited as evidence of overall safety in the quick hitch. The truth is there is a huge risk associated with quick hitches. There is a complete lack of understanding of the types, their restrictions and safe uses and of the administrative control systems and risks associated with using this as a control measure. It is important to remember that no-one has ever been killed from a bucket detaching that was mounted directly to a boom. Quick hitches are a created hazard. In order to expedite our work and make it easier for us to conduct our business and utilise the different types of attachments that have been made we have created a lethal hazard where none existed before. This is not creating a safer workplace, it is creating a more productive one. Australia is about to experience a change, there are new products about to enter the market place that can revolutionise the industry. Europe has fully automatic quick hitches that attach any hydraulic powered attachment in 10 seconds without leaving the cab. Australia has several manufacturers developing automatic quick hitches that are world standard. Safe, clean, and fast. We are currently not following worlds’ best practice. The good news is that the work has already been done in the U.K. we do not have to re-invent the wheel.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 As of 2008 no quick hitch will be sold with a manual safety pin in the U.K. This type is called a semi automatic quick hitch. They have been involved in almost every death involving quick hitches. The design flaw is that it requires the operator to physically place the pin in the quick hitch, without the pin being inserted, there is no safety system. Manufacturers and regulatory bodies insist that semi automatics are completely safe, provided the operator inserts the pin. If the operators manual says the operator must insert the pin, then the accident investigation will say, the operator must not have inserted the pin. Where it says the semi auto is perfectly safe if the operator follows the manufacturers instructions, you might be saying if only the operator had followed the operators manual. The inference, written in the operators manuals by manufacturers, is that it is not perfectly safe to operate without a safety pin. IF also means ON CONDITION THAT. The inference is that there is a risk of failure of the primary retention system, whatever the reason, and that the semi automatic is not perfectly safe without the manual safety pin. This is exactly correct. Without a safety pin, there is NO SAFETY SYSTEM installed. The safety system is required under Australian standards to mechanical, but not automatic. Manufacturers are selling quick hitches with the full knowledge that the safety system of their product may not be functioning, simply because it is not being used.
TYPE 1 A SWING ARM
Under pushing or reverse bucket operation the load is transferred to the hitch tongue, pins and hydraulic seals. Under normal digging operations force is exerted upon the fixed jaw and no load is transferred to the hydraulic components.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01
Safe position. Bucket or crowd “closed” position. The attachment or bucket is safe in this position. No pressure can be exerted on the quick hitch. If the machine is to be left at idle with the bucket raised off the ground, this position will not allow the bucket to detach.
Fixed jaw
67de.g.
Fixed jaw
1M
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4 deg
Position of risk. In this position, bucket or crowd “open” position all of the weight of the attachment is transferred to the hitch tongue and hydraulic components. The position of risk begins as soon as the hitch is no longer in the neutral position. If oil is bypassing the cylinder the required oil flow to keep the hitch closed may not be available at idle. Pressure is exerted upon the hitch tongue and from the weight of the attachment. The quick hitch will open and the bucket will detach.
The addition of a lifting point attached to an excavator bucket (now illegal) increases pressure on the hydraulic cylinder even in the neutral position. The distance from the lifting point to the fixed jaw can be taken to act as a lever to pull open the movable jaw. This was instrumental in the deaths of two workers in Victoria in 1991.
At just 40 the load begins to transfer to the movable jaw. As the hitch transitions from the safe position at 900 through the arc of 1800-2700-00-670 to a position of risk the load increases on the tongue and the risk of detachment increases. With an attachment and at idle a bypassing hydraulic cylinder will fail in the position of risk.
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 Ask Volvo or BMW if any safety systems on their vehicles are not functioning. If there were ANY SINGLE CASE of a safety system not functioning on one of their cars there would be an immediate recall and a redesign of the product. Fully automatic quick hitches do not have a manual safety pin, but some may have a hydraulic system that engages a pin. There are many styles and designs, and some are much safer than others. Quick hitches with a manual safety pin are a potential time bomb for anyone that owns or operates a machine with one fitted. After all of the design work and money that goes into a hitch, the activation of the safety system relies on a person to put a pin in place, many, many times a day. I liken this to a young son gaining employment as a courier, and upon getting the car, opening the glove box to reveal the 4 pins required to activate the ABS. "The Supervisor said "as long as I put these in every time I want to stop the car, the safety system will work just fine". This is the current situation that all excavator operators face. There is NO TRAINING, NO INSPECTION, AND NO VERIFICATION PROCESS. We have thousands of damaged, faulty, unsafe and unpinned quick hitches operating with NO SAFETY SYSTEM WHATSOEVER. The weakest link in the design of a quick hitch safety system is the OPERATOR. This must stop immediately. The solution is available right now today. The next generation of quick hitch is for sale, right now on the Australian market, fully automatic, no manual pin and safer by far than the older style semi automatic. In this study I will explain the history and workings of a quick hitch, the safe uses of them and reasons why I am calling for an immediate ban on ALL semi automatic quick hitches. Shane Hather s.hather@people.net.au
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01
Quick hitches provide a means by which implements such as buckets and other attachments can be readily and easily changed at will from the cabin of the machine. These were created to facilitate the removal of buckets and attachments in order to speed up the work process. The end result however is that a potential hazard has been created where there was not one prior.In streamlining the work process, this device has been the subject of a number of deaths and serious injury from attachments disconnecting from excavators. The causes vary but the one common theme is that the safety device, be it a pin or chains or other method, was not fitted to the quick hitch allowing the attachment to disconnect. The types of quick hitch are: •1A,B. A hydraulic ram or spring clamps a swing arm type tongue to the attachment pins. Forward acting forces act upon the hitch frame. Reverse acting forces are transferred to the hitch tongue. Constant hydraulic supply is required to ensure the attachment is not released. •2A,B. A Hydraulic ram or spring operates a wedge that clamps the attachment pin to the frame in such a way that the load in either direction is transferred to the frame and not to the ram. •3 A hydraulic ram engages pins or other metallic implements in such a way that forces are applied to the frame or attachment casing and not the hydraulic ram. •4 No hydraulic system components employed. The most prevalent and popular type is 1A, which is also the most likely type to fail as wear and tear impedes performance of this type of hitch.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01
TYPE 1 A SWING ARM
4 ton Fixed jaw
2 ton !
Pushing or reverse operation of buckets is an everyday occurrence in real world conditions on site. Most manufacturers do not approve their quickhitches for reverse operation as the load transfers to the tongue and ram seals, although this still occurs frequently. This can cause the hydraulic cylinder to become egg shaped and oil will bypass the hydraulic ram seals and return back to tank. As there is no oil leak the operator will never know this is occurring.
!
Force applied to the tongue in reverse bucket operation increases pressure upon hydraulic components
Once the hydraulic cylinder is oval shaped it may not return to its perfect shape, leaving even tiny gap will allow oil to bypass the seal. Every time the cylinder loses shape it returns less and less to its original form. The end result is that a quick hitch that has oil bypass will not stay shut when the excavator is at idle as the required oil flow to keep it shut is more than the oil flow created at idle.
In order for the hitch to unintentionally open, pressure must be exerted against the tongue. In this image the quick hitch is in a neutral position. The pressure exerted on the tongue is neutral
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 TYPE 2 WEDGE HITCH
Type 2 wedge hitches are far less likely to fail as the majority of the load is transferred to the frame Fixed jaw
The type 2 wedge hitch when placed in a position of risk has significantly less stress on the hydraulic components. Even under full reverse load the pressure upon the ram seal is far less than in a type 1 hitch.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 QUICK HITCH HYDRAULIC PRESSURE UNDER LOAD 100000
75000
50000
25000
0
Rated pressure
Tested pressure
Quick hitch pressures have been tested by Workcover NSW between the hydraulic cylinder and a closed check valve in excess of 100,000kpa. This hydraulic backloading can cause component failure as seals are only rated for pressures of approximately 35,000kpa.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01
In order to test for hydraulic cylinder oil bypass, a cylinder integrity test should be conducted in the first instance to determine the level of cylinder bypass.
TEST 1 • Position the excavator with the tracks parallel to the boom on level, firm ground. • Remove any attachment or bucket and close the quick-hitch. Crowd the bucket ram to the “closed” position. • Place the full tongue of the quick hitch on the edge of a batter bucket or strong edge. • Place the full weight of the excavator onto the tongue, ensuring nothing else is contacting the hitch or can interfere with the test. • Push down on the hitch to lift the tracks of the excavator off the ground by about 700mm. • Turn off the key. Mark a position on the tongue against the frame to check for movement. Leave sit for 30 minutes and record movement. 20mm in 30 minutes is a failed test. TEST 2 With the bucket removed and the quick hitch closed place the safety pin in it’s • place. • Rotate the hitch to the crowd “closed” position and apply full power to the bucket ram. • Engage the quick hitch and attempt to open it against the pin. • Check that the pin retains the quick hitch in place. * This cannot be done with ECH or front jaw retaining hitches.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 INSPECTION The operator must ensure that the quick hitch is in perfect working order by conducting a thorough examination of the hoses, the ram and cylinder, the tongue or movable jaw, the grease points and the frame and lifting eye. • Ensure there are no rocks or dirt trapped near the hoses. • Ensure that the pivot pins are secure and free to rotate but do not move laterally. • Ensure all pins are secured with welded tabs or high tensile bolts. Remove any wire, reo bar or other makeshift securing arrangement and replace with OEM specified retaining bolt. • Inspect the ram for score marks or oil and dirt on it indicating a damaged seal. • Ensure the safety pin is of the same size, quality and length as the standard supplied pin. If it is supplied with a chain attaching it to the quick hitch ensure that it does so. • Inspect the safety clip, keep some spares. Do not use wire, welding rods or other makeshift arrangements as a safety clip.
• Inspect the grease points and grease them. If they do not take the grease, remove the grease nipple or the pin and dig out the hardened grease with a small screwdriver. • Replace the grease nipple and re-grease. Inspect the lifting point for ovality and built up metal on the edge of the lifting eye. Look for cracks in the welds and body. Inspect the tongue thoroughly, looking at all of the supporting ribs for cracks, deformities or damage. • Check for a compliance plate with manufacturers details, serial number and a Safe Work Load. Check that the SWL matches that on the boom or dipper arm. • Place a straight edge such as a steel ruler parallel along the hydraulic cylinder. There should be no gap whatsoever. If there is a hump in the middle, the cylinder may be egg shaped and bypassing oil.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 EXCLUSION ZONES Until the phase out of semi automatic hitches can be implemented the following precautions should be maintained: 1) Exclusion zones must be established and maintained around operating earth moving machines to prevent workers being struck by either the machine or any tool due to the failure of any quick hitch system. No unauthorized persons should be allowed to work within 3 metres of an operating machine, or under any load or part of an operating machine at any time. 2) For tasks where close proximity working is absolutely necessary, authorized competent workers are allowed to work in close proximity to operating machines, if the hitch systems used have locking mechanisms which physically prevent the attachment accidentally falling out (i.e. manual or semi-automatic quick hitch systems with safety bars inserted and any retaining pins in place and safe work method statements are provided for the specific tasks. 3) All earth moving machine operators must have written evidence of their training on how to operate the specific machines and quick hitch system they are required to use. 4) All earth moving machines and quick hitch systems must be fitted and maintained in accordance with the manufacturers’ instructions and checks made to ensure compatibility with each other. Excavators on site can be highly mobile, tracking, swinging and reaching. They can cover a distance of 20 metres in just a few seconds. As the excavator can track and slew at the same time, the dipper arm can traverse the circumference of the cabin whilst the machine is tracking and can also be extended at the same time. This can see a safe distance to the casual observer eroded extremely quickly by moving plant. Pedestrian access around mobile plant should be limited to a three metre exclusion zone for static/mobile plant as a bare minimum and extended to 5 metres for highly mobile plant. Three metres is not enough clearance in all situations to be comfortable that the operator will be able to see the pedestrian. The excavator should be used in an exclusion zone, where pedestrians and mobile plant do not work together. Communications should be established, be it by radio, signal or other means as long as a method is established and agreed upon by the stakeholders. As a first method of hazard elimination barricades should be set up to exclude pedestrian access to machine work zones, to limit the amount of traffic exposure to mobile plant to only those necessary to the works conducted. Those people should be trained in plant awareness and should not be new or transient type workers. All personnel shall be inducted into the safe work method statements, site specific induction and company induction to be made aware of the hazards associated with mobile plant on site and Page 13
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 specific site conditions that may present as hazards. Personnel should never walk behind mobile plant so that they may be seen in the event of the machine moving unpredictably. The exclusion zone is there to safeguard the lives of those who enter the site. Mobile plant and pedestrians should not freely move about each other. The unpredictable nature combined with a high number of blind spots of mobile plant make for a deadly combination. PROVE POSITIVE ATTACHMENT TEST Once the operator has inspected the quick hitch and is satisfied that the unit is functional and safe he should inspect the key lockout mechanism. This should be a guarded switch, either a flip cover or key activated lock out mechanism with an audible alarm. It should not be a toggle, pull type or unprotected switch of any type. The best type is a key lockable two stage system with an audible alarm. Ensure the attachments are compatible with the hitch by measuring the width, pin diameters and distance. Once established attach to the quick hitch. First open the hitch and retract the jaw then attach by hooking the fixed jaw to the front pin and rotating the hitch. Pick up the attachment and close the hitch. With a small attachment such a bucket or ripper you can visually observe tongue movement by rotating the hitch all the way around and bringing the dipper towards the cabin. A visual inspection is not a prove positive attachment. The operator must test the attachment is secure by attempting to push off the attachment. Some recommend a visual inspection by leaving the cabin. This is not a test. It is a visual inspection and does not identify positive attachment, only a visual check. This creates unwanted, unnecessary and unneeded hazards by placing the operator in potential harm by having him leave the cabin and enter the exclusion zone, with the machine running and the boom raised off the ground. A visual inspection can be done from the cabin in most cases. The test positive attachment is the most secure, safe and fastest way of identifying whether or not the attachment is secure. It must be done every time the attachment is changed, and because it can be done in a few seconds it has more chance of implementation. Once he has proved test positive attachment, stow the bucket, secure the machine and fit the safety pin.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 Australian legal cases. Two examples of legal cases involving the non fitment of safety pin
QUICK HITCHES. SAFE USE, HAZARD IDENTIFICATION AND ELIMINATION In order to gather as much detail as possible about real world site conditions regarding quick hitch use I visited a number of sites and engaged supervisors and operators on their observations and used my own to present information on what I witnessed. There are many varied types and sizes of quick hitch but the three I inspected are: •Type 1A swing arm semi automatic Turners Engineering fitted to 12t Kobelco •Type 2 wedge type semi automatic ECH Hitch fitted to 13t Kobelco •Type 1 A swing arm semi automatic Turners engineering fitted to 5t Komatsu The ECH has a safety pin that attaches through the fixed jaw. The fixed jaw safety pin is a design modification as this type of hitch was originally made without a safety pin. Regulators later ruled that the control valve fitted to the hydraulics did not represent the definition of a secondary safety system and these types of quick hitches were required to be modified to accept a safety pin. The safety pin modification has its’ own issues and in my mind is a poor secondary safety system. Considering the design and structure of the particular style of quick hitch, no other retention system is available to be retro fitted to this style of quick hitch. The flaw lies in that, aside from all of the other hazards associated with pin installation, this type does not remove the possibility of uncontrolled movement. In this scenario a large attachment such as a hammer left in the position of risk can swing uncontrollably in the event of a fail even with the safety pin attached. This presents as a small risk, but it must be pointed out that the secondary retention system does not eliminate uncontrolled attachment movement in the event of failure of the hitch. The impact of this can be presented as several scenarios: •The attachment could swing towards the machine, damaging hoses, bodywork, cabin, the attachment or the operator. •The attachment could swing uncontrollably while the machine is in an unstable position. The resultant weight shift could topple the machine. •The attachment could strike the operator or secondary person servicing the attachment or during the connect/disconnect process. •The attachment swing could cause attached hoses to disconnect, damaging plant. The use of a particular type of quick hitch should not restrict the kind of work conducted by the operator, he should have full control through the range of the design envelope and not be reduced in his capacity to operate the machine in any way. In the scenario that an attachment is being used on a large type excavator, fully extended and raised such as in demolition or rock excavation a fail would cause an uncontrolled movement with devastating consequences, with the attachment swinging through the full arc of the quick hitch. Theses attachments often weigh several tons, and in this scenario a machine could easily rollover, suffer a complete detachment through pin failure, hose breakage, impact on machine cabin or body, and serious injury or death. If there is any doubt over the veracity of this claim, ask an operator to conduct a test whereby you release the safety pinned ECH hitch with a hammer pointed as though conducting demolition work. No sane person would do it. The safety pin in this case is a capitulation to regulators’ interpretation of the Page 15
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 guidelines. It does half the job it should do and quite possibly makes it more dangerous than it should. The Australian Standard 4772 recognizes this and requires a risk assessment for this type of hitch. The fitment of the safety pin to the ECH hitch is more difficult than other types as the pin is required to slide up behind the dipper arm and then into the slot cut into the fixed jaw. If the angle is not quite right the operator must go back to the machine and readjust the bucket angle to accept the pin. This may have to be done several times to get the angle right. This type of pin in this type of hitch is largely seen as a waste of time for day to day use and is only used in circumstances of increased risk, such as reverse bucket operations or working around personnel. Type 1A swing arm quick hitches represent an increased risk of failure from the design of the product. Inherent in the design is the requirement for a safety pin, as this type of hitch can have load exerted upon the movable jaw, ram and seal many times that of its’ design parameters. It also tends to lose performance as parts wear. The hydraulic cylinder can lose shape and oil could bypass the seals, or the seals themselves could fail. This has been identified as a cause in the deaths of workers previously in this country. A detaching bucket or attachment could have devastating effects, maiming, paralysing or causing death to workers. Reversing a bucket or pushing back on the bucket, such as is done when climbing a stockpile and the machine pushes itself up to the top will cause the cylinder to over pressure and cause ovality leading to bypass or failure. There is no real way of observing cylinder/seal overload. Extended attachments such as a lifting beam must be not be used with this type of quick hitch to avoid over pressurisation. There is currently no standard procedure for checking cylinder pressures, but a test performed by Workcover NSW found pressures in excess of 100,000kpa where the design pressure was 35,000kpa. Where there is cylinder ovality bypass will occur. This can cause bucket detachment in some situations. When left in a position of risk and at idle the hydraulic ram can retract unknown to the operator. There have been no incidents involving detachments as far as I was able to discover in Australia with the quick hitch pin in place. There is a compelling case to enforce a policy of pin fitment to all machines, however here arises a serious issue in regards to enforcement of the rule. It would be impossible to get 100% compliance of pin fitment. There will be situations where it would be deemed of no importance to fit the pin, such as during pick and place of buckets, loading attachments on trucks, lifting attachments from within deep holes or in high places, such as the second floor of a demolition or when there is no personnel. During many activities such as ripping rock or hammering the operator must change the implements regularly, possibly several times an hour. The operator can be exposed to health risks such as exposure to silica dust, strains from trips and falls, muddy, wet conditions and uneven ground. The operator must enter an exclusion zone of his own plant with the engine running and with the attachment raised off the ground. Sometimes the operator is working in an isolated area, possibly alone where an accidental detachment would be of no consequence to anyone as the operator is securely in the cabin and no workers are nearby. On rainy days the operators can work but they won’t be getting in and out of the cabin 60 times a day to place a safety pin. The risks to the operator associated with repeated pin fitment versus the risk of detachment begin to weigh up and in the end anytime that the pin can be left out it inevitably will be.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01
In the event of an incident involving a quick hitch there is an issue with liability to the company as it will be their policy failure that is placed under scrutiny. A direction given to an operator by policy, SWMS, toolbox or other means does not absolve the company of liability for failure of that policy, it in fact incurs liability for the failure to adequately supervise or train operators. It is incredibly difficult to effectively monitor the effectiveness of the policy, as there will be situations where it would considered reasonable not to enforce pin fitment as the process of fitting the pin becomes riskier than not doing so, such as in loading buckets and attachments onto trucks. There would be a unacceptable risk to operators to constantly go from the cabin to climb up on the truck in wet weather, leaving the machine unattended to remove the pin, climb down off the truck with it, put the pin away, enter the machine and repeat seven times. Company owners, managers and supervisors would agree 100% (they ought to) that this poses an unacceptable risk to the operator. The psychological leap is that managers accept that pins won’t be fitted all of the time and operators should risk assess the situation. In just ONE hypothetical situation, the policy of 100% pin fitment is out the window. Herein lies the problem, policies are soft. They are an administrative control measure for an engineering shortfall. The solution here is to engineer the problem away. By the addition of a fully automatic approved quick hitch companies can do away with the issue entirely, effectively outsourcing the problem to someone else. By solving the administrative issue with an engineering one you can wipe the problem from the companies’ books and the liability goes with it, as does the operator compliance, health and safety concerns, productivity and job satisfaction and staff retention issues. Staff who have the latest, most user friendly equipment are more likely to be retained and have increased productivity. There are currently companies within Europe making fully automatic quick hitches that automatically connect any hydraulics in seconds saving time, money and risk and will keep the hydraulic oil uncontaminated by not having dirty connection points.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01
Austlii cases Vassel v Stokes
Charges
Fines
Bucket detachment
Y
Failure to provide and maintain safe systems of work.
Company 100k 20% reduction Guilty plea
Results in death
Y
Failure to provide and maintain safe plant
Director 11k 25% reduction guilty plea
Safety system fitted
N
Failure to maintain safe place of work
Unsafe quick hitch switch
Y
Failure to provide information, training, instruction and supervision
Previous regulator improvement notices
Y
Ticketed operator
N
Austlii cases Nizamis V Lorenzin
Charges
Fines Company 24k Director convicted
Bucket detachment
Y
Failure to provide and maintain safe systems of work.
Results in serious injury
Y
Failure to provide adequate supervision to ensure employee safe from injury and risks to health
Safety system fitted
N
Unsafe quick hitch switch
N
Previous regulator improvement notices
N
Ticketed operator
Y
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 There has been a successful defence of charges brought against a contractor in NSW involved in an incident involving a quick hitch. In “Inspector WADE v YORE” charges were brought against Yore Contractors for an incident where a bucket detached and injured a worker under s16(1) OHS Act 1983. The magistrate found that: Buckley (injured worker) and Cobcroft (plant operator) initially lied to those investigating the accident about the manner in which the accident occurred. The evidence further disclosed that at the relevant time the quick hitch mechanism attached to the boom complied with all relevant standards. It is a well-known practice in the excavating industry that a locking pin is an indispensable fail-safe device, an essential element to the use of digging equipment. (b) Cobcroft had not put the locking pin in place as he was going to use a different bucket later that day from the one on the machine, which he had used the day before. (c) Cobcroft was aware he had contravened Yore’s safety policy. (d) Yore ensured that all its men were inducted onto the site and the topic of the use of the locking pin was included in the induction course. (e) Whilst Cobcroft was not given any specific site training because of the fact that he had undertaken induction training and his extensive experience in the excavation industry. (f) The site manager spent two thirds of his day supervising on site and did a weekly audit of the site in accordance with Yore’s site safety inspection sheets. (g) The Department of Public Works conducted a monthly audit of all plant and equipment, which included the use of locking pins, and the Department had a full time supervisor on site whose duty was to ensure the safety of the work being performed. (h) In May 2000, an issue regarding the non-use of safety pins on excavators had arisen. A memo was issued by Yore and read by the site manager to all operators on the importance of the use of the locking pin and that nonuse of the locking pin would not be tolerated by Yore. (i) As part of the safety audits conducted by Yore and the Department of Public Works, the use of locking pins was regularly checked. (j) Throughout the contract, employees are always made aware to put safety pins into the quick hitch mechanism. (k) It was a simple procedure to put the locking pin in place. It was a matter of sticking a steel rod into a hole in the quick hitch mechanism. On the basis of those facts, the Magistrate found that there was a safe and proper system implemented regarding the safe use of locking pins by Yore. It provided such information, instruction and training to Cobcroft as was necessary to ensure that the quick hitch-locking pin on the excavator was correctly installed and in its proper place at all times whilst the machine was being operated. It was evident that Cobcroft was well aware of the need to ensure that the locking pin was in place and he conceded that his employer repetitiously discussed this issue with its operators and himself. The Magistrate held that it could not be argued that despite the provision of information, instruction and training, Yore failed to supervise its employee Cobcroft, in that he did not follow his employer’s system of work. This was because there was a deliberate flouting of a well-known policy by Cobcroft, who was clearly aware of Yore’s policy and immediately after the accident covered up the true situation. He further held that the only way in which Yore could have prevented the incident was to provide a level of supervision whereby a person was employed in the cabin with Cobcroft at all times checking his actions and movements. This was not a reasonably practicable solution available to Yore. Page 19
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 The first recorded death from hydraulic quick hitch in Australia was in April 1991. There was a double fatality in Victoria when an excavator hydraulic quick hitch opened under backload and released a bucket with an attached kibble of concrete onto two workers in a drainage shaft. A number of factors contributed to the deaths: • No back up safety device fitted. (not built into the design) • Contaminated hydraulic oil. • Kibble attached to bucket hook. • Men working under suspended load. • Hydraulic cylinder was bypassing oil. • Operator left the bucket in a position of risk at idle. • Quick hitch opened under back load. Work-safe Victoria released a list of preventative measures to prevent a similar incident occurring. AS A TEMPORARY MEASURE ONLY fit a safety pin on the following conditions:
• Back up device must be in place before using the implement. • Overloading of hydraulic system must be avoided. • Provide adequate pressure to the quick hitch by continual operation of controls. (no idle) • Meticulously maintain hydraulic oil systems.
• Remove, replace or modify type 1 quick hitches as a matter of priority. These safety measures were never pursued* throughout the industry and type 1 quick hitches were allowed to continue to be sold. The retro fitting of old equipment was also not carried out.
*A safety pin was added to these types of hitch, however the design relies on the fitment of the pin occurring for the safety system to function. A similar incident occurred in Scotland in November 2007. The inquiry found that: that the cause of death was blunt chest and abdominopelvic injuries sustained as a result of an accident involving a the detachment of a bucket from the boom of a JCB excavator which struck the deceased as it fell from height. The detachment occurred as a result of a loss in hydraulic pressure in the quick coupler which retained the bucket in place when power to the excavator was switched off. That loss in hydraulic pressure resulted from the leakage of hydraulic oil due to a missing "O" ring in a check valve within the quick coupler. The safety pin which would have prevented the bucket detaching and falling had not been inserted by the operator who had not grounded the bucket prior to the engine of the excavator being switched off. Mr Andrews entered the exclusion area of the excavator when the bucket was raised and it remained unsafe to do so. As a result of this combination of causal factors Mr
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 Andrews was positioned under the elevated bucket when the locking jaw holding it in place opened, allowing it to fall and strike the deceased... Mr Andrews' death was not the only fatality associated with a failure to insert a safety pin when using semi-automatic quick hitches. A further three had occurred in the year prior to this accident. Closer enquiry by the Health and Safety Executive, in conjunction with major contractor groups, have revealed many incidents involving this piece of equipment albeit non-fatal and sometimes fortuitously resulting in no injury. Whilst investigation established that semi-automatic quick hitches are safe when used correctly, the evidence was that many operators were failing to lock the device by inserting the safety pin giving rise to incidents such as the present. No such problems exist with automatic quick hitches which incorporate an automatic locking system.
In addition to the 4 types of hitches, these are further broken down into 3 styles. 1. Manual - No hydraulics, attached by a manual spring. Requires the operator or secondary person to activate manually. 2. Semi Automatic - Hydraulic system. Can be of many types but requires a safety pin. A check valve mounted to the supply port does not meet the intent of a secondary safety system. 3. Automatic -Hydraulically activated. Does not require a safety pin. This system has multiple fail safes and requires hydraulic pressure to release the hitch safety systems. It then has a secondary retention system as an added fail-safe and indicators to alert the operator of a problem. Of the deaths and serious injuries recorded in Australia involving quick hitches, none have occurred with the safety pin fitted. On the surface it seems that the best way to avoid an incident is to write a policy or enforce compliance in fitting safety pins to excavators. This is in fact counter intuitive. If you opt for an administrative level of control then you must fully administer the problem to the nth degree to provide adequate legal protection for yourself and business. For instance; if a business was to write a policy that determines that all safety pins be fitted at all times the obligation to ensure compliance has not been removed from the company, in fact it is the opposite. They are responsible for the design, implementation, monitoring and reviewing the effectiveness of the safety system, compliance monitoring, training, identification of shortfalls, instruction and warning labels, maintenance/replacement of pins and adequate supervision. The onus is now on the business to own the responsibility for administration of the safety system in the same way an engineering company is responsible for it’s product being a safe for public use. Applying administrative controls are often seen as an easy option - to just write a policy and toolbox everyone to abide by it. In fact the opposite occurs in that now the entire process can be failed by one action and the company can now be held liable for failure to supervise/ensure compliance etc. When you risk asses the quick hitch, if your system includes fitment of a safety pin, you must include the operator in the risk assessment. When you asses that risk and you apply the measure of likelihood of compliance the chance is zero. The company cannot be satisfied that every Page 21
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 single time without fail that the safety system will be implemented. This creates a hole for incidences to occur. The operator and the company will be fined as it is a failure of their safety system. PROVIDE INFORMATION The wide variation of designs and the increasing complexity of quick hitch technology make it essential that supervisors and operators are supplied with adequate information to enable them to carry out their duties effectively and safely. Information comes in various forms and from several sources. Excavator/quick hitch owners must ensure that a robust system is in place to provide adequate up to date information to users and maintenance personnel. This may be achieved in a number of ways including: •Provision of paper manuals using a system which will ensure frequent updating is taking place; •Provision of electronic manuals using a system which will ensure frequent updating is taking place, and •A central technical information function which can be contacted for up to date information whenever maintenance is taking place. Information supplied by both the excavator and quick hitch manufacturers will be the main source of instructions and specifications when fitting, using and maintaining quick hitches. The primary document will be the maintenance manual for the specific quick hitch model (and in some cases serial number), supplemented by technical information bulletins. Care should be taken to ensure that the information is up to date and relevant to the quick hitch that is being fitted, used and maintained. Manufacturer’s manuals are not always complete and in the case where a particular task is not covered, the manufacturer must be contacted for information BEFORE the task is undertaken. The combination of an excavator and a quick hitch may not have been supplied by one manufacturer. Frequently the quick hitch will have been supplied by a specialist quick hitch manufacturer for retrofitting to an existing excavator. Consequently the information covering the excavator/quick hitch combination will have come from at least two sources and there is the danger that information may either overlap in a conflicting fashion or have gaps where a significant piece of information is missing from both sources. In this case the user must consult both manufacturers to ensure that any shortfalls in information are rectified. WARNING LABELS Most excavator/quick hitch manufacturers provide short form instructions on adhesive labels which should be fitted to the excavator’s cab in a position where it can be clearly seen by the operator. Care should be taken to ensure that the instruction labels are current and apply to the model of quick hitch being used. Warning labels such as those shown are frequently fitted to the dipper arms of excavators fitted with quick hitches. The condition of all labels should be part of the daily checks and replaced as soon as they are found to damaged or illegible.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 TRAINING Quick hitches come in a variety of shapes and sizes with significant differences in operating characteristics. It is therefore essential that operators and supervisors are given adequate familiarisation on an unfamiliar type or model of quick hitch before they begin operations. Familiarisation is generally carried out by an experienced person employed by the excavator owner but may also be carried out by a representative of the quick hitch manufacturer. The person giving familiarisation should have been assessed to ensure that they are competent to do so. All familiarisation should be recorded. Familiarisation for the operator of a quick hitch should include the following: • Identification of all areas of risk whilst using quick hitch devices; • Understand the legal ramifications for plant operators using quick hitches; • Demonstrate the safe working procedures for the use of the quick hitch in accordance with manufacturer’s recommendations; • Demonstrate the safe working procedures for connection and disconnection of attachments; • Demonstrate when and how to undertake visual inspections of the quick hitch attachment; • Demonstrate "pre start checks" and maintenance requirements as recommended by the manufacturer, and • Practically demonstrate the safe method by which a connection of an attachment can be tested. SUPERVISION It is essential that both supervisory and operating personnel involved with the selection, fitting and use of quick hitches have the necessary attributes to ensure that they will be able to carry out their duties both effectively and safely. The necessary attributes for both supervisory and operating personnel are set out below. Supervisor Attributes • Understand how the hitch works; • Understand what the hitch can and can’t be used for; • Understand how to attach and detach an attachment in the prescribed manner; • Understand how to carry out checks to ensure that the attachment has been correctly engaged; • Understand which checks and inspections are required on a daily or weekly basis; • Understand what day to day cleaning and lubrication is required; • Understand what can happen if the hitch is incorrectly attached; • Understand what can happen if the hitch is poorly maintained; • Understand that the hitch must not be used to move attachments without being fully engaged; • Understand that work must be carried out to the Safe Work Method Statement unless it is unsafe to do so in which case work must stop; • Be aware of accidents and incidents caused by incorrect operation; • Be aware of the increased risk when operating in the vicinity of other people and ensure/maintain an exclusion zone wherever possible. Carry out an effective observation and know what to look for; • Able to communicate effectively with operators and line managers; Page 23
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 • Recognise bad practice and unsafe behavior; • Develop good working relationships; • Active in raising H&S standards; • Consistent and persistent; • Not afraid of conflict where an issue needs to be raised and addressed, and • Understand his responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act. OPERATOR • Understand how the hitch works; • Understand what the hitch can and can’t be used for; • Able to attach and detach an attachment in the prescribed manner; • Able to carry out checks to ensure that the attachment has been correctly engaged; • Understand he must physically leave the cab and check the quick-hitch before work commences or recommences following attachment. • Able to carry out the required checks and inspections on a daily or weekly basis as required; • Able to carry out the day to day cleaning and lubrication required; • Understand what can happen if the hitch is incorrectly attached; • Understand what can happen if the hitch is poorly maintained; • Understand that the hitch must not be used to move attachments without being fully engaged; • Understand that he must work to the Safe Work Method Statement unless it is unsafe to do so in which case he must stop; • Understand that if he is concerned or unsure about anything he must stop; • Aware of accidents and incidents caused by incorrect operation; • Aware of the increased risk when operating in the vicinity of other people, and • Understand his responsibilities under the Health and Safety Act. Following selection, or as part of it, an assessment should be made of the extent of training which is needed for an individual, bearing in mind that this could be influenced by any previous training and experience. When supervisors or operators are recruited it is essential that employers check that their qualifications and experience relate to the job they are to do. Where the type of quick hitch to be used is outside the employee’s previous experience, additional training should be provided. In any event, some further training is likely to be necessary to familiarize the employee with specific requirements of the new job. Once a supervisor or operator has been selected, any deficiencies in their knowledge, skills or understanding must be remedied by suitable training. This may be carried out in-house or by an external training provider. At the end of the training period the trainee should be assessed to ensure that the training objectives have been met. An example of a nationally and industry recognised training schemes for the selection, fitting and use of quick hitches is a short course on Connecting and Disconnecting Attachments using Quick Hitch Coupling Systems.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 ASSESSMENT Employers should ensure that personnel are assessed to establish that they are competent to carry out the tasks they are required to undertake. This applies equally to personnel completing training and those experienced workers who have been recently recruited. Assessment should contain both practical elements to demonstrate the skills and standards achieved and the answering of questions to demonstrate relevant underpinning knowledge. The assessment should be carried out by occupationally competent and authorised assessors. RISKS • The operator must exit the cabin of the excavator many time a day (cases have been observed in excess of 60 times a day) magnifying the potential for injury many fold. • The operator is required to leave the excavator running with a raised attachment. • The operator is required to carry a safety pin, often in the cabin, creating a separate hazard for pedal interference and access and egress. • Supply and maintenance of quick hitch pins. • Supply and maintenance of safety pin clips. • New operators may not be trained. • Loss of pin may result in work being undertaken without a pin. • Supervision is never 100%. Supervisors multitask. • Unsupervised operators will not comply 100% with pin fitment. • Pick and place of buckets warrants no safety pin and encourages some machine use without a pin. • Time constraints will inevitably impact pin fitment. AUTOMATIC QUICK HITCH Since October 2008 no semi automatic quick hitches can be bought in the U.K. There were a number of deaths in a short period from implement detachment. Health and Safety have decreed that semi automatic quick hitches will no longer be sold in the U.K. They have written a new standard solely for quick hitches with a view to creating an international standard. As yet Australia has not called for the removal of semi automatic quick hitches, in fact some companies have ruled that no machine shall enter their site without a safety pin, ruling out automatic quick hitches. This leaves companies open to prosecution in the event of an accident as their internal policies are not worlds’ best practice. If companies elect an administrative control over an engineering one they must police it and be responsible for it, and accept liability when it fails. It is by no means an excusable defence to blame the operator. For whatever reason the policy failure, the company is the architect of the design, and thereby the owner of the weakest link. It is foreseeable that the operator may not use the safety pin at all times, and it is an archaic, backward company that believes they can police this policy. There will be times when it is not practical to use a safety pin; for instance loading of attachments onto a truck in the rain. No one is going to expect the operator to climb up and down the truck body to use a safety pin a half dozen times as the risk of injury outweighs the dangers.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 Of the 142 sections of the OHS Act only 1 (28) deals with defence of an infringement. This is the one and almost only way companies, employers and individuals can avoid prosecution. It must be shown that it was not foreseeable, that it was not practical to comply and they company had no control over the cause. ASSESSING RISK The current controls in place on any site I have ever attended in over 17 years have only ever been “soft” controls such as policies JSA’s or SWMS. These are rarely conveyed to staff in a meaningful way, if at all, and companies will not be covered legally in the event of a serious accident if they rely on this form of control. When companies opt for soft controls they open themselves up to scrutiny in the event of an incident in that the administrative level of control must be held to the same level of scrutiny as an engineering product. The administrative control must be watertight in that there must be no point at which the level of applied control can fail, as is the case with an engineered product. If we take for example the automatic quick hitch; by the correct selection, supply and installation of a suitable product that is fit for task and has been assessed as being appropriate and meets legislative requirements, as long as that product does not create further unwanted hazards the company has effectively removed the hazard of operator pin fitment by subcontracting the problem away to an engineering company. Engineering companies invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in development, patenting, licensing, marketing and brand recognition. The end result is that with appropriate training and maintenance the earthmoving company will have a never fail product. This is the equivalent of a water tight solution. If we take the soft control of an administrative route, utilizing that same level of investment the engineers took and put it into policy development, operator training, warning labels and signage, supervision, monitoring, review of policy effectiveness, on site spot checks and competency evaluation, maintenance and supply of pins and equipment in perpetuity, the level of investment soon adds up into a large sum over time and after all of the soft controls are scrupulously implemented you will still have less security than the engineered control, but you will have invested the time, money and resources into it and taken on the risk and all of the liability for it. And there’s the rub, the liability still belongs to the company, even with all of the worlds best controls in place, when the operator one day does not put in the pin and the bucket falls off, the only defence companies have is that it was not foreseeable that the incident happened. If they risk assessed it, it’s foreseeable, that’s why we implement the controls, and that excuse has long since gone out the window with the U.K. banning all semi automatic hitches there are now reams of published documents on the subject in the public arena. The issue is well known, well researched and well documented, the issues have been around for 20 years. It is a well and truly foreseeable issue. To say that the company has taken all reasonable steps they must take engineering options into account. It is not reasonable to only include more and more policies and procedures into your companies safety systems, at some stage you must acknowledge a failure of the system and implement a higher level of control. There is the option of removing the quick hitch altogether and having one machine for one task. This system may work for large companies, such as mining or large contracting businesses, but for an ordinary contractor this removes the versatility required to be competitive or even operate the business effectively. The only practical other alternative is to engineer the problem away. Businesses are required to do it, Page 26
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01
Grinder damage from remove flaking chrome due to operator damage. This cylinder is leaking, bypassing and lethal.
manufacturers are required to implement it once the problem has been identified. When you engineer the problem away it is effectively gone for good. This is the glaring problem in using administrative controls to police an engineering shortfall - it misses the point entirely. The administrative problem never goes away. It is there all of the time. For ever and ever shall we repeat our mistakes. The risk, the compliance, the cost, it goes on in perpetuity. The options are available to farm out the problem to companies who have invested in engineering solutions, it is just rationalized into a cost problem. That is not to say there are no significant costs, there are, but the quick hitch is going to be purchased anyway. Selection of the appropriate product can remove the hazard in one fell swoop. Page 27
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 There are tens of thousands of old quick hitches out there working that have never been inspected or tested. From the day they are purchased they may never be checked again. Ten, fifteen or twenty year old quick hitches are out there working without any standardized test for compliance. We have a standard for manufacture but not failure. Even our car trailers must go through an inspection for registration. Excavators and in particular quick hitches do not have any testing, inspection, certification of current fitness, registration, checkable history, record of maintenance or even a standard level of compliance to meet. Without any standard test or level of compliance to meet companies forget about their obligations and their hitches. They forget about the small things, the little details, like the pivot pin hanging out of this one. They forget that this Tie wire used to hold piece of engineering must QH hoses together keep attachments safely hooked on by a little steel tongue while the operator is utilizing every bit of power available to him to force the attachment off. It’s all well and good to have a standard for new hitches but we must remember the thousands of non compliant, non conforming and downright dangerous quick hitches at work in the field. There are thousands of these. Some are seemingly well maintained but may have the incorrect safety pin or no pin at all supplied. It is the tier 1 companies who can take a lead role here, and they should. It is not only affordable, it is essential for the next generation of worker to benefit from the mistake/lesson cycle. The solution is there, it is available, it is affordable and it is required. What is left is excuses. You can’t be a shining example to the industry if you’re a small company. Only the leaders can lead and only they can drive the development of technology in such a way that fully protects their workers. Page 28
ECH with incorrect safety pin. Useless.
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 I propose an independent testing and certification regime that involves all quick hitches to be tested and certified for use. Safety officers on site will be responsible for ensuring the certificate is current and that the quick hitch still complies with the requirements. The testing shall be 12 months and completed by an external contractor authorised to conduct testing. The testing should include a pressure hold test whereby manufacturers provide guidance on the required pressure and hold time for each quick hitch and develop a protocol for failure e.g. X pressure over Y time + mm movement. There can be two levels of assessment fail results- similar to a prohibition or improvement notice. Level 1 repair immediately. Level 2 replace quick hitch. Those companies who ignore the
Evidence of a grinder used to strip the flaking chrome off a ram. Leaking, bypassing and lethal.
available and affordable engineering solutions do so at their peril, as it is their system of protection that will be centre stage when an incident occurs When you add the risks associated with the operator having to dismount the machine to place the pin in and out many hundreds of times a week the risks of injury has grown exponentially, with operator injuries from cabin access and egress ranking near the top causes of all injuries for operators. This is now a further problem to attempt to control or administer, and in an attempt to do so Safety Officers will again place further administrative controls in the way of productivity, until that is no longer practical and productivity must come first, the reliability of such happening is surpassed only by that of the sun rising in the east each morning. Yet the construction industry leaves us with the feeling that to purchase the correct gear from the start is somehow an insurmountable imposition on finances, but to manage the issues that arise from the selection of inappropriate equipment is to be “actively engaged�. Page 29
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 Safety Officers will stand there proudly touting a 60 page SWMS and JSAs that no one reads, and records of training and warning labels and reams of hazard registers and walk you through a workshop full of fitters making safety pins and welding equipment to attach the pins to chains on the machines when they fall off and they say “look at how well we manage safety here”. With a straight face. It is ironic that a company is expending the kind of energy needed to administer this problem, ignoring an engineering one because the initial outlay is expensive. It is in fact a cheap price to pay to have the peace of mind, businesses don’t need extra worries. Business needs security of operations, not to be tossed off site for non compliant plant nor operators or to have the regulator put a stop on the job, not to have a concrete pour put off
Reinforcement bar in place of bolts. Egg shaped safety pin hole. Unserviceable. Replace QH
Hitch locating pin, slid out of place. lethal.
because the safety pin is missing or to have a bucket come off and kill a young worker. Companies can find themselves charged and dragged through the courts only to find their world class admin system was a waste of time, effort and money and they personally are liable for that death. As the quick hitch is the fixed lifting point for the excavator it is astounding, that the hitch is not inspected for that reason alone. Quick hitches that fail a pressure hold test, cylinder integrity test, lifting point test, have leaking ram seals, scored rams, excessively worn parts or fails a prove positive attachment test shall be removed from the excavator immediately on site. The hitch cannot be returned to the machine until repairs are undertaken and a new certification inspection is conducted. Damaged hoses, missing grease nipples, incorrect retention bolts or floating un-retained pins can be addressed by an improvement notice. No work conducted by the plant until repairs are carried out and a re-inspection completed. No certification, no operation. It is time for a dramatic rethink of the way we go about our business. Get back to basics and cut the garbage. If this was the automotive industry we wouldn’t even see airbags and Page 30
MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 crumple zones yet, let alone the real advancements in technology we see today in passenger vehicles. Europe is beating the pants off us at our own game, with superb technology now allowing fully automatic quick hitches to connect and disconnect hammers and begin work within 10 seconds. This is the level of development that Australia needs to actually stop deaths and injuries occurring from quick hitches. Real advancement in technology; not the last centuries’ engineering but todays. My proposal is to get all of the manufacturers to agree in principle to a testing and certification process. This will have the added benefit of protecting the brand name. Companies can have dangerous quick hitches removed from work sites and non compliant ones repaired. The detail on the testing and certification process can be discussed at length as each manufacturer will have their Gauge damage in the tongue own tests and parameters for each of their products. It is of vital importance that this is implemented, there are too many unsafe quick hitches out there operating around unsuspecting workers. In addition there needs to be a training program for operators and fitters to gain an understanding of the issues to look for, correct use, limitations, inspection and maintenance and the importance of using Original Equipment Manufacturer pins and bolts.
Damage. Shows signs of the general level of care.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01
The barrier to implementation of the new era in quick hitches is the industry themselves. The manufacturers can be an impediment to the investment needed by not having the certainty they need to invest in the next generation product. A large QLD contractor and others have banned all fully automatic quick hitches from sites in what can only be seen as a stifling, crippling and backwards step in industry progression. The
Non compliant switch. Lethal.
reasoning is even more bizarre considering their U.K. counterparts now support fully automatic hitches as the industry benchmark in safety. I have seen the leaders of large contractors, such as John Holland etc say that the only way to stop deaths is to take the focus away from LTIs and look at those things that are hurting our people. This is what hurts our people. Managerial rigor-mortis. It’s time companies took a stand on the issue and become industry leaders instead of industry ostriches. As yet no bucket nor implements have detached from fully automatic quick hitches. This is the single biggest development in
Broken grease nipple
quick hitches since their invention. Broken hitch tongue. Lethal
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 Development of the automatic hitch represents the next level of safety in quick hitches and the new benchmark that must be met in Australia with swift action from regulators in implementing the change to ban semi automatic quick hitches. Eventually semi automatic quick hitches will become uninsurable, poisoned by the association with death. The added risks to insurers will be too much, especially as there is an alternative product that eliminates the hazard. Companies will have no choice but to change to the newer, safer style. With the implementation of automatic hitches the risks associated with safety pin use are eliminated. Instead of having thousands of pieces of plant with no secondary safety system in place, we could reduce that number dramatically with an effective ban on the sale of new semi automatic hitches, just as the U.K. has done. They have a far larger market than ours, with many times the number of plant, and many times the exposure to the hazard, but they have achieved a milestone in safety. Banning the sale outright is the only way to stop the injuries and deaths. Anything else is second rate. With a ban on semi automatic hitches, Australian workers can safely go about their business without the fear of death or serious injury from a bucket or attachment coming off.
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01
QUICK HITCH TRAINING MODULE Name.................................Date........... List 5 hazards on site
List the risks
1................................................... 1...................................................... 2................................................... 2....................................................... 3.................................................... 3........................................................ 4.................................................... 4......................................................... 5.................................................... 5......................................................... What are the controls in place to lessen the risks? 1............................................................................ 2............................................................................ 3.............................................................................. 4............................................................................. 5............................................................................. Hierarchy of controls. Give an example of each method. 1. Elimination.................................................... 2. Substitution.................................................. 3. Engineering.................................................. 4. Isolation....................................................... 5. Administration............................................. 6. PPE...............................................................
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 Correctly identify the different types of quick hitch
1..............................................
2.................................................
3................................................
4....................................................
5.......................................................
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 Which type is best? .....................
Wedge type or swing arm ?
................................
................................
Which type is safest? ...................................
Why........................................
Determine the effectiveness of control measures. List the method of control using the hierarchy of controls for the examples. Lines on roads...........................................hard or soft control?.................. Concrete barriers................................H or S?............................................ Train platform yellow line?.................H or S?................................................ Padlock and chain...............................H or S?................................................ Manual safety Pin?...............................H or S?................................................ Automatic Safety Pin?.........................H or S?................................................ Tag out system?.....................................H or S?...............................................
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 List the Hazards and associated risks: HAZARD
RISK
CONTROL
PERSON IN EXCLUSION ZONE ............................... .......................................................................
QUICK HITCH
TRESSPASS.
........................................... ........................................................................
.................................................. .......................................LOCKED GATE
....................................................... BUCKET DETACHMENT
PRISONER
..............................................
.................................................... STRUCK BY PLANT
.........................................................
FENCES AND ARMED GUARDS
............................& SPOTTERS
OPEN EXCAVATION
............................................... ............................................................
RAILWAY CROSSING
................................................. ............................................................
SUSPENDED BUCKET
.................................................... ..........................................................
..................................................
ELECTROCUTION
........................................................
NON OEM SAFETY PIN
..................................................... .......................................................
................................................. ......................................................... ...................................................
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 HARD OR SOFT CONTROL MEASURES.
Train platform yellow lines.............................................................. Policies and procedures................................................................... Pedestrian overpass......................................................................... Manual safety pin............................................................................ Laws................................................................................................ Fines............................................................................................... Gates.............................................................................................. Safety Harness............................................................................... Automatic safety pin....................................................................... Padlock........................................................................................... Regulations.................................................................................... Shoring boxes............................................................................... Signs............................................................................................. Instructions.................................................................................. Toolbox talks................................................................................. Safety Alerts................................................................................. Machine guards............................................................................
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MANAGING QUICK HITCH SAFETY Rev 01 EXCLUSION ZONE JOB SAFETY ANALYSIS FITMENT OF SAFETY PIN Activity List the tasks required to perform the activity in the sequence they are carried out.
Hazards Against each task list the hazards that could cause injury when the task is performed.
Risk control measures List the control measures required to eliminate or minimize the risk of injury arising from the identified hazard.
Who is responsible? Write the name of the person responsible (supervisor or above) to implement the control measure identified.
Operator to fit safety pin to every attachment
Uncontrolled machine movement. Grease contamination of hands, levers, hand-holds. Unsafe situations to place pin.
Isolate machine, remove key. Work in an exclusion zone. Wear PPE, use cloth rags to wipe excess grease off. Risk asses situation for unsafe activity.
Operator Supervisor
Exit cabin
Uncontrolled machine movement, muddy boots, uneven ground, greasy hand holds.
Isolate machine, establish an exclusion zone on level ground. Maintain three points of contact. Clean off boots. Keep hands clean with rags
Operator.
Obtain safety pin
Pin not appropriately stored
Store in suitable place, not in cabin or near batteries. Keep clip spares
Operator
Fit safety pin to quick hitch
Uncontrolled attachment movement, pin sharps, greasy pin.
Stow attachment in such a way as it cannot move, wear PPE. Keep pin clean
Operator
Access cabin
Entering the machine
Maintain three points of contact. Clean off boots.
Operator
Conduct safe test on attachment with pin fitted.
Attachment may come off
Maintain exclusion zone
Operator.
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