CPA Bulletin

Effective communication is essential if the rescue plan is to be carried out successfully and a hierarchy of rescue must be devised. Also covered is the fact that the rescue plan should not rely on the fire and rescue service, as the MEWP may well have a much higher working height than any firefighting hydraulic or turntable ladder. As a last resort the use of a controlled descent device might be considered in exceptional circumstances. The final presentation of the day was delivered by IPAF’s Andrew Delahunt on secondary guarding. A secondary guarding device is a piece of equipment that can be fitted to a MEWP in addition to the primary guarding systems, and is intended to further reduce the risk of entrapment and/ or provide an alert that an entrapment situation has occurred. Andrew immediately outlined that a key issue is entrapment, whereby the operator is trapped against the controls or guard rails, and often a serious cause of injury. IPAF currently has two documents available - Avoiding Trapping Crushing Injuries to People in the Platform and Guidance on Secondary Guarding Devices Available to Reduce the Risk of Entrapment Injury - and a working group of manufacturers, contractors and hire companies has been devised to update the guidance in line with the latest developments. Key changes will include updates to the risk assessment, ground rescue person and rescue practice, reference to rescue of persons from MEWPs, consideration of new devices and the main types of secondary guarding including physical barriers, contact devices and proximity sensors. It is anticipated that the revised documentation will be available later this year. The final part of the day was a session encompassing a series of questions that had been posed from attendees throughout the open meeting using Slido, the web-based Q&A and polling platform for meetings and events. At the beginning of the meeting, Kevin Minton had given all attendees the Slido web address and event code, whereby they could pose individual questions to be addressed by the speakers. This generated interesting debate covering a wide range of issues. Kevin Minton closed the meeting by thanking all attendees for contributing to a thought provoking and interesting open meeting. The Strategic Forum for Construction Plant Safety Group meets three times a year and further attendees are welcomed. All interested parties should contact richard.whiting@ipaf.org in the first instance. HEALTH & SAFETY: 3 The SFPSG Dumper Development Group started work on the Good Practice Guide in early 2018. Members of the group include plant hirers and owners, clients, contractors, users, manufacturers, importers and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Four sub-groups were formed to focus on specific subject areas including Exclusion/ Segregation, Ground Conditions, Operation and Training. The group spent considerable energy evaluating, discussing and defining safe operational aspects, taking into account safety and efficiency requirements. The guidance subsequently underwent a period of public consultation before final sign-off by the working group. The finalised version is now available as a free-of-charge download from www.cpa.uk.net/sfpsgpublications The completed guidance comprises 96 pages and covers topics such as planning and dumper selection, supervisory and operator attributes, training requirements, stability, exclusion and segregation, loading, travelling and discharging operations and using a dumper on the public highway. The causes and consequences of accidents are also examined, based on case studies derived from publicly-available safety alerts and those investigated by the HSE. One of the main messages of the safe use guidance is that the use of a dumper should not be the first choice. The correct identification of the most appropriate machine should be the first step followed by effective planning, supervision and the use of competent people if dumpers are to be used safely. The use of dumpers fitted with a cab is becoming common, for which the guidance outlines some of the issues and considerations that need to be made in terms of allowing an operator - which is not an automatic choice for any cabbed dumper - to remain seated during the loading process. As a result of the outcomes of the guidance, dumper manufacturers are now in discussions to seek a collective standard that determines a minimum cab strength, allowing an operator to remain seated during the loading operation. Once derived, the working group will update the guidance document to reflect new standards. To mark the availability of this important document, hard copies of the Good Practice Guide on the Safe Use of Dumpers will be exclusively available to visitors to the CPA Stand CE4 at Plantworx and staff will be on hand to outline key information within the guidance. New Dumper Safety Guidance Available at Plantworx As a result of a number of fatalities involving the use of forward tipping dumpers within the construction sector, an Industry Forum for Dumpers was formed in late 2016 with the overall objective of avoiding future incidents. Following a number of meetings, the CPA and CECA (Civil Engineering Contractors Association) agreed that seven principles would be used as a basis of an industry initiative action plan including the production of a safe use publication. The CPA agreed to produce comprehensive guidance through the Strategic Forum Plant Safety Group. Safe Use of Dumpers 34 CPA Bulletin > May 2019 www.cpa.uk.net