Reducing the risk of accidents with your lifting equipment
Accidents happen and that is the unfortunate truth. However, many accidents can be avoided if the proper safety precautions and maintenance schedule is adhered to. Make sure that all your lifting equipment is in good order and that your workforce are properly trained in the correct operation of the machinery.
The HSE is satisfied that there is no need to take enforcement action against a Scottish cargo-handling company, whose failings in regard to maintenance and inspection of a mobile crane contributed to a car collision, in which three people lost their lives.
Barry Copeland’s wife and two daughters were killed in January 2008 when their car crashed into another vehicle on the A92, near St Cyrus, Aberdeenshire, after coming into contact with hydraulic oil, which it is thought had leaked from a hole in a mobile crane’s suspension hose.
A fatal accident inquiry held in January this year found that the crane operator, William Whyte Cargo Handlers, did not have in place for the crane a programme of planned preventative maintenance. The firm’s employees also erroneously regarded the six-monthly inspection of the crane, in line with LOLER 1998, as applying also to its roadworthiness.
Further reading
What you should check for when inspecting a crane