“An Accident Waiting To Happen”
Plastic, wood, an arm here, a leg there… the shredder in this story doesn’t really know the difference. Turn it on… it shreds, and shreds.
The horrific injuries suffered by a shredder operator earlier this year are a stark reminder to employers and employees alike, that workplace health and safety must be taken seriously.
This accident happened to a guy who had done the same thing over and over (albeit, the wrong thing), for a long time… a routine that he falsely believed was not going to hurt him.
Sadly, it did. It’s a safe bet that this machine operator no longer believes, “It Can’t Happen To Me”.
Company X employee Christopher X had his legs and an arm amputated after he was dragged into the cutting discs of the company’s green waste shredder.
A service manager for the company described the machine as “a disaster waiting to happen”.
There was insufficient guarding to ensure operators could not access the dangerous parts of the machine while it was operating.
This was exacerbated by the fact that it was often necessary for operators to enter the hopper of the shredder to unjam the cutting discs.
While attempting to clear a machine jam, the man got his foot caught in the rotating cutting discs, and was dragged into them.
Fellow employees heard him calling for help and raised the alarm. The shredder was able to be stopped, however Mr X was trapped in the cutting discs for more than an hour.
Two of his limbs had to be amputated in order to free him.
“While there were a number of methods which could be used for removing a blockage from the cutting discs, the injured employee thought that the only way to unblock a jam was to get into the hopper of the shredder while the cutting discs were going and try and move the blockage with his feet, which was clearly not a safe practice,” a company official said.
He advised the investigators that he would climb into the hopper of the shredder while the cutting discs were operating ‘about every other time’ he used it.
With the best of intentions, Mr X appears to have adopted this extremely dangerous work method by default, as he could see no other way of unjamming the cutting discs.
There were no documented guidelines or procedures for clearing blockages, which should have been a given for this type of operation.
Accident Causes:
1. There was no lockout-tag out procedure in place to facilitate the task.
2. There were no posted or written standard operating procedures on the proper operation of the equipment.
3. There was a poor safety culture facilitated by the management of the organization.
4. There was a culture of complacency adopted by workers .
Safe Work Practices:
1. Guard your equipment properly, to prevent someone from placing body parts in front of moving equipment parts.
2. Develop, test and post standard operating procedures that identify the safety features of machinery.
3. Train employees on the proper use and shut down procedures of machinery before conducting maintenance tasks
4. Employees should speak up about practices that are ultimately unsafe.
5. Repair safety features when called-out. Respond quickly to safety related work orders.
6. Never get complacent around equipment. Machines hurt people. It CAN happen to you.
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself” Leo Tolstoy
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