A recent IMCA Safety Flash focuses on an incident in which, crew were removing a hydrogen gland from a generator using a lifting attachment, two chain falls, and an overhead crane, to provide lessons learned.
The incident
One of the chain fall’s pull chains caught on a bolt and broke. The bolt was on the top of the generator and was there to hold a protective cover sheet in place. There were no injuries.
What went wrong
- There was a general job briefing done for the day’s work, but not specifically for this task;
- The crew had started lifting the load with chain falls and were beginning to lift with the crane. There are two distinct lifts to be considered – the manual lift (with the chain fall) and the power lift (with the crane). The transition is the critical time;
- Everyone was focused on the load and not watching the chain falls or the crane.
Actions taken
- A Safety stand-down was held to discuss this incident with all involved and lessons from it were to be included in future training material for apprentices and new hires;
- Have an increased awareness of ensuring chains are free when moving loads;
- Keep the “bigger picture” in mind – don’t get so focussed on the detail that something obviously potentiallly unsafe escapes your attention.
