Excavator Impalement – Life-Altering Injury

When equipment is altered, even something as seemingly minor as removing a mirror, the change needs to be assessed for any new risk it introduces. 

Hazard awareness can't be limited to a point-in-time, task-specific assessment. Crews need to maintain ongoing awareness of their surroundings and equipment, continually noticing and mitigating risks as conditions change, not only when a formal hazard assessment is triggered. 

In this case, the hazard had likely existed for some time, and familiarity with the equipment appears to have played a role in it going unaddressed.

Is there a piece of equipment or a condition in your operations that no longer makes sense, or is a leftover from something no longer in use? Ask your workers.

How are you managing change to equipment in your operations?

Are you involving frontline workers, like equipment operators, when you assess the impacts of change?