Safety/Hazard Alerts

[Samuel]

Experiences learned and shared are an important tool in mitigating future occurrences as it related to incidents.  Having said that, I thought I would take the liberty to post (in text format) various Hazard Alerts I have sent out in our company to share with others, and I hope everyone feels that they can do the same.  If anyone feels that this is a waste of time or something that should be included elsewhere, just let me know.

[Samuel]

TO:   Chipping Contractors
CC.   EMS Hazard Alert File
RE:   Near Miss
FROM:   Samuel B. ELKINS, R.P.F.T., EMS (LA)
COMMENTS:   

Incident Description:

Date and Time of Incident: October 19, 2007 at 0300 hrs
Portable Chipping Incident


Maintenance Crew were changing out 1st upper flail drum on a Portable Chipper.  Picker truck operator started to lift flail drum but then began lowering it again.  This action resulted in pinning the individual's leg that was helping on the ground as his leg was partially caught under the flail motor.  The individual sustained minor bruising on his left thigh, but was able to continue working, as such no loss time occurred.

Immediate Causes:
   Unsafe operation
   Undue care and attention
   Lack of communication
   Unsafe work condition
Root Causes:
   Not following procedure
   Rushing
   Poor planning
   Lack of leadership
   Lack of training
Recommendations to Prevent Reoccurrence:
   Contractor to hold a safety meeting with all employees and communicate the following:
o   Reiterate the importance of employees not to be under partially suspended objects
o   Always remain in full communication with working partners during high risk activities
   Ensure that meeting production targets does not supersede Health & Safety requirements
   All work involving the lifting/suspending of heavy objects utilizing a picker truck will be completed during daylight hours or adequate lighting.

[Samuel]

TO:   Chipping Contractors
CC.   EMS Hazard Alert File
RE:   Potential Environmental/Safety Hazard
FROM:   Samuel B. ELKINS, R.P.F.T.

COMMENTS:   

On 08-August-2006 the following Environmental incident was reported to the Forest Resources Business Unit.

A large (low pressure) hydraulic return line located under the cab of the portable chipper ruptured due to a failed hose clamp, resulting in a significant petroleum spill onto the ground.  Subsequent investigation determined that the hose fitting was attached to the pump by a hose clamp fitting (which came directly from the Peterson Pacific factory) rather than a pressed (machined) fitting.  The contractor has since changed the fitting to a proper pressed fitting, which should prevent reoccurrence.

Please ensure you take an opportunity to check this fitting on your chipper to prevent future reoccurrences of this nature.

[Samuel]

TO:   DMI Carriers and Operations Staff
CC.   EMS Hazard Alert File
RE:   DMI TruckSafe Program- Policy #4 - Code of Conduct
FROM:   Samuel B. ELKINS, R.P.F.T., EMS (LA)
Incident Description:

Date and Time of Incident: 27-Feb-08 @ 1253 HRS

While conducting an independent mechanical inspection on a loaded truck entering the DMI facility, the inspector noted that the driver was exhibiting signs of intoxication (incoherent and breath smelled of alcohol).  Inspector immediately contacted DMI Forest Resources of the incident and the RCMP was notified and responded to the call.  The driver of the truck failed the roadside breath analysis test, and as such was arrested for suspected impaired driving and transported to Peace River for further detailed testing.  Subsequently, the driver was issued a 24-hour suspension; however, the RCMP will be pursuing legal charges under the criminal Code for impaired driving.  In addition to this, as per Policy 4 of the DMI TruckSafe Program, the driver's site access has been terminated.

Immediate Causes:
   Unsafe operation
   Unacceptable conduct
   Unsafe work condition
Root Causes:
   Intoxication
   Poor planning
   Lack of leadership
Recommendations to Prevent Reoccurrence:
   All DMI carriers to have a safety meeting with all workers and review Policy #4 of the DMI TruckSafe Program and reiterate that DMI will not hesitate to terminate site access and contact the RCMP upon suspicion of impaired driving.
   Communicate incident with other operations to learn and share information and ideas.

[Samuel]

TO:   Portable Chipping Contractors and DMI Operations Staff
CC.   EMS Hazard Alert File
RE:   Portable Chipping Operations Near Miss- Failure to Lock-out
FROM:   Samuel B. ELKINS, R.P.F.T., EMS (LA)

Date and Time of Incident: October 22, 2007 at 1100 hrs

A DMI Chipping contractor was observed cleaning out a plugged debris flinger on a portable chipper without the proper lock-out mechanisms in place (pin in chipper wheel and lock out on ignition of chipper motor).  As a result of having the worker's arm and hand within this debris flinger without the proper lock out mechanisms in place, the worker was subjected to a potential life threatening injury.
Immediate Causes:
   Unsafe operation
   Failing to lock-out
   Unsafe work condition
Root Causes:
   Not following procedure
   Rushing
   Lack of leadership
   Lack of training
Recommendations to Prevent Reoccurrence:
   All portable chipping contractors to have a safety meeting and review lock-out procedures and associated hazard assessments with respect to this task with all workers (find attached).
   Review applicable legislative requirements under section 312 (4) of the Alberta Occupational Health & Safety Code with respect to Safeguards/lockouts.
   Ensure that production targets/pressures does not supersede Health & Safety requirements
   Communicate incident with other operations to learn and share information and ideas.

[Samuel]

TO:   Portable Chipping Contractors and DMI Operations Staff
CC.   EMS Hazard Alert File
RE:   Portable Chipping Operations- Loss Time Accident
FROM:   Samuel B. ELKINS, R.P.F.T., EMS (LA)
Incident Description:

Date and Time of Incident: 11-Feb-08 @ 1500 HRS

A DMI portable chipping operator and a "trainee" were in the process of rolling the chipper disk while routinely changing knives.  The trainee not fully aware of the task, failed to remove his foot while the disk spun around and the paddle caught his left foot.  The individual sustained a crushed foot, and was unable to continue working, resulting in a loss time incident.

Immediate Causes:
   Unsafe operation
   Undue care and attention
   Lack of communication
   Unsafe work condition
Root Causes:
   Not following procedure
   Orientation not completed
   Poor planning
   Lack of leadership
   Lack of training
Recommendations to Prevent Reoccurrence:
   All portable chipping contractors to have a safety meeting with all workers and communicate the following:
o   Review the task analysis and associate hazard assessment for changing knives on the portable chipping units.
o   Always remain in full communication with working partners during high risk activities
   Ensure that all new employees receive proper training and/or orientation prior to conducting high-risk activities.
   Communicate incident with other operations to learn and share information and ideas.

[Samuel]

TO:   Portable Chipping Contractors and DMI Operations Staff
CC.   EMS Hazard Alert File
RE:   Portable Chipping Operations- Loss Time Accident
FROM:   Samuel B. ELKINS, R.P.F.T., EMS (LA)
Incident Description:

Date and Time of Incident: 11-Feb-08 @ 1500 HRS

A DMI portable chipping operator and a "trainee" were in the process of rolling the chipper disk while routinely changing knives.  The trainee not fully aware of the task, failed to remove his foot while the disk spun around and the paddle caught his left foot.  The individual sustained a crushed foot, and was unable to continue working, resulting in a loss time incident.

Immediate Causes:
   Unsafe operation
   Undue care and attention
   Lack of communication
   Unsafe work condition
Root Causes:
   Not following procedure
   Orientation not completed
   Poor planning
   Lack of leadership
   Lack of training
Recommendations to Prevent Reoccurrence:
   All portable chipping contractors to have a safety meeting with all workers and communicate the following:
o   Review the task analysis and associate hazard assessment for changing knives on the portable chipping units.
o   Always remain in full communication with working partners during high risk activities
   Ensure that all new employees receive proper training and/or orientation prior to conducting high-risk activities.
   Communicate incident with other operations to learn and share information and ideas.

[Samuel]

TO:   Carrier Contractors and DMI Operations Staff
CC.   EMS Hazard Alert File
RE:   Trucking Operations- Loss Time Accident
FROM:   Samuel B. ELKINS, R.P.F.T., EMS (LA)
Incident Description:

Date and Time of Incident: 29-May-08 @ 1530 HRS

A DMI Carrier driver was tarping a load inside of the Tolko High Prairie warehouse.  While pulling down on the tarp, the rope broke, causing the driver to fall over and transfer all of his weight to his ankle.  The driver was transferred to the High Prairie hospital and treated for a broken ankle.

It should be noted that driver was wearing proper safety footwear and was on a level cement floor during the time of the incident.
Immediate Causes:
   Equipment failure (broken rope)
Root Causes:
   Hazard (frayed rope) was not identified during pre-trip inspection.
Recommendations to Prevent Reoccurrence:
   All carriers to review incident at next safety meeting with all drivers and communicate the importance of regular inspections of the ropes, and to replace where required.
   Ensure that all new drivers are aware of the potential risk of tarping loads.
   Communicate incident with other operations to learn and share information and ideas.

[Samuel]

TO:   Harvesting, Chipping & Hauling Contractors, Forest Resources Supervisors, Logging & Chip Truck Drivers
CC.   DMI Scales
RE:   Safety Reminders for Winter Haul
FROM:   Samuel B. ELKINS, RPFT, EMS (LA),

COMMENTS:   

This is a reminder that the 2007/08 winter chip & log haul will be ramping up soon and the following are key safety requirements that all road users and truckers need to pay particular attention to:
Tire Chains:
This is a quick reminder to all truck drivers that tire chains must be carried on all trucks.  Drivers need to continually assess road conditions and place tire chains on trucks under adverse weather or road conditions.  DMI is committed to conducting regular road maintenance of haul roads to ensure safe travel by all road users, but truck drivers must be aware that tire chains may be required at certain times throughout the winter season.

Radio Call Procedures:

Please ensure that all road users follow the Radio Call Procedures/Rules of the Road.  With the onset of winter driving conditions it's critical that all road users call their kms.  For consistency, "LOADED" means any traffic headed out from an active hauling area toward public access.  "EMPTY" means any traffic headed into an active hauling area off public access.  Identifying yourself as "loaded" or "empty" will indicate your direction of travel.  Empty traffic is relying on the loaded traffic to call their kms so empties can either clear the loaded traffic, or slow down in preparation to meet the loaded traffic. 

Unless you have urgent information beneficial to all traffic, radio use should be kept to location, direction of travel and relevant hazard alerts.  Unnecessary radio use may result in critical km locations or road hazard alerts not being heard.

Driving to the Road Conditions:

Weather and road conditions can change quickly on area logging roads and highways.  Please adjust your driving behaviors and slow down when adverse road and weather conditions exist.

Drive with Courtesy and Respect on Local Area Highways

Much of our fibre travels through small rural communities (i.e. Worsley, Hines Creek, Grimshaw, Manning, Nampa, etc.).  Let's respect the residents who live in these small rural communities by traveling the speed limit and driving in a safe courteous manner.

Let's all get home safely this haul season, someone expects and depends on you to walk through the door everyday. 
REMEMBER: UNSAFE IS UNACCEPTABLE

[Jeff]

Excellent idea.

[Samuel]

Incident Description:

Date and Time of Incident: September 19, 2008 at 0105 hrs

An overs spout on a portable chipping unit became partially plugged during the course of operation.  The worker-ceased operation, disengaged clutch and shut down engine on the portable chipper however, did not wait until chipper disk stopped moving prior to commencing to clean out the spout with right hand.  A paddle on the chipper disk struck the workers hand and subsequently broke his middle flinger.  Because of having the worker's hand and arm within this area without the proper lock out mechanisms in place (pin in chipper disk) the worker was subjected to a potential life threatening injury.
Immediate Causes:
   Unsafe operation
   Undue care and attention
   Unsafe work condition
Root Causes:
   Failure to lock out
   Rushing
   Not following current procedure
   Inadequate procedure
   Lack of leadership
   Lack of training
Recommendations to Prevent Reoccurrence:
   Update company lock out procedure and review with all workers.
   Development of a chipper operators training course.
   Review applicable legislative requirements under section 312 (4) of the Alberta Occupational Health & Safety Code with respect to Safeguards/lockouts.
   Review with all contractors that production targets/pressures does not supersede Health & Safety requirements
   Communicate incident with other contractors to learn and share information and ideas.

For further information please contact me at (780) 624- 7448.


S. B. ELKINS, RFP (AB)., EMS (LA)
Continuous Improvement Coordinator

[Kevin]

A 71-year-old man was run over by a runaway tractor and killed Friday morning while helping to remove a tree stump from a home in Denmark Township, authorities and a witness said.

Eugene J. Becker of Hastings was dead at the scene, a house in the 13200 block of Douglas Drive S., the Washington County Sheriff's Office said. The death, which occurred about 10 a.m., "appears to be an accident," the Sheriff's Office added in its news release.

"I looked out the [living room] window right when it rolled over him," said Erin Pace, the homeowner. "It all happened within seconds. Then it rolled off of him, and he passed shortly after I got outside."

Pace said the engine was running on the tractor as it was chained to a stump in attempt to pull it out. When one of the three men working at the home took an ax to the roots, "that tractor started going backward" on a slight incline toward the street. "[Becker] turned around and went after it."

Pace said she needed help removing two trees that gave in to high winds last week, one on her home and the other on a neighbor's garage. The removal work began last week, but the service needed to send out the tractor Friday after an earlier effort to uproot the stump with a pickup truck failed, she said.

Becker was not employed by the tree removal service that was hired, Pace said.

"He was just a friend of the owner and doing him a favor," she said. "He knew how to drive that tractor."

[beenthere]

Kinda hard to sort out what really happened from that story.  : :

But, poor guy is gone, and that is sad.

[Samuel]

DATE  2009-03-30

TO:            Portable Chipping Contractors
CC.            EMS Hazard Alert File
RE:            Portable Chipping Operations- Medical Aid
FROM:    Samuel B. ELKINS, RFP (AB), EMS (LA)

Incident Description:

Date and Time of Incident: 18-Mar-2009 @ 2320 hrs

An operator from a DMI portable chipping contractor was in the process of rolling the chipper disk while routinely changing knives.  The operator's right foot slipped off one of the paddles on the chipper disk while attempting to turn it, sustaining a soft tissue injury when the foot was crushed between the disk housing and one of the paddles (as depicted in Figure 29 of the Owner/Operator Manual).  The operator received medical attention from a physician and returned to work the following shift.


Immediate Causes:
   Improper placement
   Undue care and attention

Root Causes:
   Not following procedure
   Rushing
   Complacency of Activity

Recommendations to Prevent Reoccurrence:

As this has been the third incident of this nature in less then 12-months, DMI is requesting that all portable chipping contractors review the associated task analysis and associated hazard assessment for chipper disk and knife maintenance with all operators and reiterate the high potential for injury when manually rotating the chipper disk.  If there are any alternatives when conducting this task to what is suggested in the Owner/Operator Manual for the DDC 5000-G, please forward to me to share and distribution to all contractors.

Should you have any further questions or concerns, or would like to discuss this matter further please do not hesitate to contact me at (780) 624- 7448.


S. B. ELKINS, RFP (AB), EMS (LA)
Continuous Improvement Coordinator

[Samuel]

DATE  2009-03-30

TO:   Portable Chipping Contractors
CC.   EMS Hazard Alert File
RE:   Part 9- Fall Protection Occupational Health and Safety Code
FROM:   Samuel B. ELKINS, R.P.F.T., EMS (LA)

It has been noted by DMI- FRBU that there is a previously unidentified hazard as it relates to portable chipping operations. Specifically, the height of the platform on the operator's cab from the ground is in excess of 3.0 metres.


Figure 1- Page 103- Owner Operator Manual (DDC 5000-G) Peterson Pacific Corp.

Figure 1, an excerpt from the Owner/Operator Manual for the DDC 5000- G indicates the bottom of the cab in the travel position to be 4.09 metres from the ground.  Subsequent investigation and measurements taken have confirmed that the cab platform is in excess of 10 feet (> 3.0 metres) from the ground while in the operating position.  Part 9 of the OH & S Code, Section 139 (1) states the following:

An Employer must ensure that workers use a fall protection system at a temporary or permanent work area if
a)   a worker may fall 3 meters or more, or
b)   there is an unusual possibility of injury if a worker falls less than 3 meters.

Section 139 (3) indicates that:

An employer must ensure that a worker at a permanent work area is protected from falling by a guardrail if the worker may fall 1.2 metres and less than 3 metres.

As such, DMI's recommends that all portable chippers have in place a guard rail system around the platform of the cab to mitigate the potential falling hazard that exists and to meet the legislative requirements under the Occupational Health and Safety Code.  This guard rail system is recommended to be installed within 30 days or prior to the portable chippers being moved into the PRPD satellite yard.  For specific examples of a guard rail system that has been installed by Peace River Logging, please refer to Figures 2 and 3 on the following page.



Figure 2- Guard rail installed on chipper cab access platform.


Figure 3- Access point of guard rail system.

It is also strongly recommended that a handle be installed in the vicinity to the 1st upper flail to facilitate 3 point contact for the operator to mount and dismount the platform area to mitigate the potential slip/fall hazard that exists.  Should you have any further questions or concerns, or would like to discuss this matter further please do not hesitate to contact me at (780) 624- 7448.


S. B. ELKINS, RFP (Ab)., EMS (LA)
Continuous Improvement Coordinator

[Ron Scott]

Drowsy or Drunk?

Working tired is just about as bad as working drunk, according to a study cited in the Northern Logger and Timber Processor. A person who has worked for 21 hours has the same reactions as a person whose blood alcohol level is 0.10%. That's above the legal limit for drivers in most states.

Northern Logger