Lessons learned: Stop the job when it cannot be performed safely

While performing this work a wooden beam was used to prevent the drum from turning freely. Two painters, along with their supervisor, inspected their work area and conducted a toolbox talk before beginning to clean the winch drum base. While cleaning the auxiliary winch drum base, the painters needed to rotate the drum for better access. The two painters manually rotated the drum, one person holding it secured in position, while the other person repositioned the wooden beam to secure the drum. The two workers repeated this process twice without incident. However, the third time, one painter attempted to rotate the drum alone, as the other painter was not present. While positioning the wooden beam to secure the winch drum, the drum rotated back, trapping the his little finger between the beam and the winch base. This resulted in a broken finger.

What went wrong

• One person was trying to do a job that had already been established needed more than one person to do it safely;
• An improvised securing device was used (wooden beam), and this was seen as the most suitable and easy solution to secure the drum;
• Due to the general painting permit that was used for this job, there was no additional risk assessment covering the specifics of painting a winch that might potentially rotate;
• No further assessment was performed on how to properly secure the winch when the drum was in free rotation.

Lessons learned

• Stop the job when it cannot be performed safely;
• Don’t attempt to perform a two-person job alone; wait for assistance, even when this takes extra time;
• Ensure that a safe and designed-for-purpose securing methods are used, even when this takes more time to prepare;
• Do not use “general” permits and always assess the risks associated with changes introduced to an existing piece of equipment.