Safety Alert -Excavator Safety

Excavators, backhoes and other digging plant can lead to serious workplace accidents that can result in equipment and property damage, serious injury or even death. In the 10 years spanning 2003 to 2012, 25 workers have died from injuries involving this equipment (safe work Australia). In 2012, excavators were also responsible for the deaths of 3 pedestrians (safe work Australia). While self-propelled plant serves the important purpose of easily moving soil or rock on a site, they pose a wide variety of hazards including ground collapse, water inrush, falls, hazardous manual tasks, airborne contaminants, buried contaminants, and underground services. It’s important to ensure that each self-propelled plant operator has been trained and is considered competent. Non-operator workers present in areas with self-propelled plant traffic should also be familiar with working safely around these vehicles.

Do you have similar safety risks in your workplace?

  • Does your business have a need to utilize self-propelled plant equipment?
  • Have you ever observed self-propelled plant equipment being operated in an unsafe manner either by coworkers or other contractors?
  • Are there pedestrian workers and other equipment operators working on job-sites within close proximity to excavators?

How to prevent incidents in the workplace

  1. Train all excavator operators, this should include formal classroom training and a field test.
  2. Ensure that nearby workers are familiar with working around heavy mobile equipment.
  3. Train supervisors to lookout for unsafe practices amongst operators and to retrain employees as necessary.
  4. Ensure that each worksite has been evaluated for site specific hazards and appropriate adjustments have been made minimize or eliminate these hazards.
  5. Develop an inspection checklist to ensure that equipment is operating as intended.

Tool Box Talk Share this information (Informative)

Issues raised / Action Required / Responsible / Due date / Completed
Train all operators (classroom and field test).
Train nearby workers in job-site safety (working safely around this mobile equipment).
Complete pre-inspection checklist (observe the following):
  • Horns, lights, guards, shields, fire extinguishers.
  • Engine and hydraulic fluid levels.
  • Any leaks.
  • Controls for proper function.
  • Inspect track systems.
  • Check belts, hoses.
  • Cab glass clean.
  • Damage to bucket linkages or worn pins.

Investigate the job-site before work begins, be sure to plan for the following:
  • Where will trucks be parked?
  • How will material be loaded into trucks?
  • Is there room for material piles?

Is there an established set of hand signals to be used by the operator and nearby workers?
Are operators always wearing seatbelts? This will keep the operator in place in the event of a rollover.
Is personal protective equipment being utilized by excavator operators and job-site workers? This may include hard hats, safety glasses, hearing protection and steel toe shoes.
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Any other safety items raised?
Name / Signature / Date
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