Plant

Information

Remember the old familiar terms of hand tools, fixed machinery, pressure vessels and portable equipment.

What is plant?

Well forget them and think only in terms of PLANT which under workplace safety legislation [NOHSC:101(1994)] is defined as "includes any machinery, equipment (including scaffolding) appliance, implement or tool and any component or fitting there of or accessary thereto".

In any workplace a huge variety of plant exists, ranging from a torque wrench to a bell crusher, an item fixed in the workplace, eg. bench grinder to a portable item such as a quick cut saw.

What are my Legislative Obligations?

The basic statutory obligation is that all plant used in the workplace is safe for use and is in safe condition.

Has relevant information, instruction and training been provided to ensure it is used safely by employees’.

Do you provide a level of supervision reasonably necessary to ensure employees using that plant are safe from injury and risks to health.

What Causes Accidents with Plant?

Plant operations in the workplace create a wide range of risk exposures to employees. Some key ones are:

Crush Points
Noise
Dust
Flying Particles
Electrical
Shear Points

What are the Accident Statistics for Plant?

Accidents in the workplace involving plant are one of the highest reported events across a range of industries.

Almost 30% of fatalities in a 10 year period were caused by plant. 22% of workers’ compensation claims in 1998/99 were caused through plant, this does not include any statistics for self employed and/or contractors.

Whilst the figures may vary across jurisdictions, there is no doubt that plant accidents frequency is high.

What action is required?

Any person operating plant in the workplace MUST carry out an assessment of each item of plant.

If you are an employer this must be done before use and/or installation.

For companies who are manufacturers, suppliers, designers or hirers of plant these obligations apply in addition to ensuring plant is safe for use and information is provided on safe use.

Once the assessment has been carried out then this solution is to be based on the Hierarchy of Control, ie. in the order outlined.

identified by changing design.

identified by: substitution, separation, redesign, administration

by providing Personal Protective Equipment (P.P.E.)

What are Essential Elements?

Areas to consider in relation to Plant safety are:

Access/Egress
Electrical
Guarding

Always ensure that employees operating Plant have the necessary certificate of competency. Never allow anyone to operate without training.

Have an effective lockout/tagout system in place for Plant.

Have an effective maintenance system in place backed up by documentation, for all Plant.

Example:

A sawmill worker received critical injuries recently when a board kicked back out of the edger saw he was operating.

He was processing a 2" x 8" x 16’ piece of spruce lumber through the edger. The width setting on the saw was changed to four inches while the board was still going through.

The blades put inward pressure on the board, causing it to kick back. The kickback teeth at the entrance to the saw, designed to prevent this type of kickback, failed to stop the board. It hit the worker in the abdomen.

After the accident, the company checked the kickback teeth on the edger and found the ones in the centre were worn. They had been in place about two and a half years.

The teeth were immediately rotated to move sharper ones to the centre where they receive the most use. Later, all edger teeth were replaced.

The firm that manufactures the teeth said it has not set a standard life-span for the teeth, since the degree of wear depends on how much lumber is being processed.

Preventive Measures That Could Have Been Taken

Check kickback teeth regularly, ie. Regular Maintenance.
Avoid changing saw settings while lumber is being processed.
Operators should do a test run on the thinnest piece of lumber to see whether fingers catch. With the machine shut down and locked out, push a rough piece of lumber in past the teeth, then try to pull it back. If the teeth allow the lumber to move at all, the teeth should be checked and replaced. ie. Regular Maintenance.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Here is an item of Plant

HAZARD LISTING

RISK ASSESSMENT

likely outcomes when using chainsaw

You can Email to us for assessment if interested?

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