Lifting equipment hazards

Basic workplace safety on 13 OSHA-required training issues. Chemical spills, fire protection, confined spaces, emergency plans, personal protective equipment, hazardous waste, lockout and tagout, safe lifting, housekeeping, labels, chemical handling, hearing protection, and respirators. 

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations already require risk assessments of work activities to be carried out to identify risks arising from the use of lifting equipment and the appropriate precautions required to deal with these risks. The level of precaution will depend on the degree of risk assessed, and should reduce the risk to as low a level as is reasonably practicable. Particular hazards to be considered are equipment striking a person or object and the consequences of equipment failing. 

There are very few factories that do not have some form of lifting equipment the hoist being the most common form. The hand-operated block and tackle is rarely used for production needs today, but is often the mainstay of the maintenance department for moving equipment. The Factories Act requires a high standard of inspection to be carried out regularly, but there remains the hazard of abuse or bad operation. 

One major hazard in materials handling is failure of the lifting equipment. Excessive load causes many failures for some lifting conditions. For example, for humans, there are sprains and strains of backs, arms, and legs. A crane boom may buckle. A chain or wire rope that is part of the lifting device may break. Rigging that restrains load may fail. A conveyor support may collapse. 

Understands the main hazards associated with the use of forklift trucks, conveyors and lifting equipment. 

For machinery, an interconnection of parts, one of which moves under power, causes the complex product to fall within the scope of the Machinery Directive (EC 2006a) (MD). All hazards posed by the machinery are subject to the Essential Health and Safety Requirements (EHSR) relating to the design and construction of machinery and given in Annex I of the Machinery Directive. Note that apparatus that moves under purely manual effort is out of scope of the Machinery Directive, except for manually powered lifting equipment. 

Four chapters (7, 8, 9 and 10) deal in detail with the protection required for members of the public in many different construction scenarios. These hazards may be conveniently divided between those which are present inside the site and those which may occur outside the site. Inside the site, the public may be visitors (authorized or unauthorized) or joint occupiers of the site if it is a refurbishment project. The hazards from the construction work presented to the public outside the site could include materials falling from working platforms, and the operation of cranes and other lifting equipment. 

This hazard covers loads dropped or mishandled by cranes and other types of lifting equipment that could damage safety-significant SSCs, including fuel, either directly by impact on the fuel or the SSC, or indirectly because of the collapse of a floor or wall supporting the SSC. 

A less obvious hazard is potential failure of used or excessive motorized handling or lifting equipment. 

Layout considerations include avoiding crane lifts over operating equipment, especially equipment that contains hazardous materials, and, in particular, hazardous materials held under pressure or high temperature. Allow space for maintenance access without damage to other equipment. Apply risk management concepts to the layout and siting. 

Has the employer implemented the use of engineering controls, work practices, and personal protective equipment to reduce and maintain employee exposure to or below published exposure levels for hazardous substances and health hazards not regulated by 29 CFR Part 1910, Subparts G and Z (e.g., heat stress, lifting hazards) [OSHA Reference. 120(g)(2)]... 

Risk assessment applies to all activities in the laboratory, including lifting heavy equipment and use of furnaces, for example, whether or not any hazardous substances are involved. The five basic steps in risk assessment are 1. Look for the hazards. 

Skilled support personnel are proficient in the operation of certain equipment, such as earth-moving or heavy-lifting, which is needed temporarily to provide immediate emergency support which cannot reasonably be provided in a timely fashion by an employer s own employee or a contractor. Skilled support personnel are not required to be trained. However, they must receive an initial briefing at the site on the proper use, function, and limitation of PPE, the chemical and physical hazards involved, and the duties to be performed. All other appropriate safety and health precautions that are provided to the employer s own employees should be used to ensure the safety and health of these personnel. 

When selecting the type and manufacture of the PPE, the purchaser should understand the functions being preformed by the responder and the chemical and physical hazards associated with the operation. They must also know how the operation and chemical will effect the degradation of the suit, gloves, and boots and the tactility and dexterity needed by the responder. Especially when Levels A and B equipment is in use, it is important not to overlook nonchemical hazards, such as heat stress, cold stress, slip, trip and falls, moving equipment, and lifting. 

Special attention to safety requirements is necessary when performing site inspections. These include aspects in relation to the dosage form and activities observed (e.g. radioactive pharmaceuticals, hazardous materials, laboratory reagents, equipment and apparatus, explosions, personnel lifts, ladders, glassware, freezers, steam, radiation, microbiological hazards, viral and biological products and waste, and other relevant possible hazards). 

Hazard communication and personal protective equipment and emergency procedures training are addressed in Chapter 4. As with conventional warehouse operations, employees should be trained in safe lift truck operations, lifting and other procedures which are not specific to chemical warehouse operations. However, in a chemical warehouse, instructions on these routine functions should be tailored to address the unique hazards present in the chemical warehouse environment. 

Transportation of delicate electronic equipment on fork lifts, lorries, ferries and cranes can be hazardous. 

Hazardous malfunction - if a piece of equipment was to fail in its function (that is, fail to do what it is supposed to do) and, as a result of this failure have the potential to cause harm, then this would be defined as a hazardous malfunction. Consider an example - if a materials lift on a construction site was to collapse when the supply to its motor failed, this would be a hazardous malfunction. All the regulations concerning work equipment state that it must be ... 

During development, crane operations occur in windy areas and introduce lifting and crush hazards while large components or heavy pieces of equipment are moved. 

Crane and lifting operations Large turbine components or heavy pieces of equipment must be lifted and moved. Hazards can include dropped objects, uncontrolled lifts, crushing, unbalanced vessels, crane failure, and collapse. 

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