An incident in which a well-established galvanizing-industry practice ended in a worker being badly burnt is one of several incidents that have prompted the HSE to look at how formal guidance for the sector on safe lifting can be improved.
Magistrates heard how employees at Worksop Galvanizing’s factory were rust-protecting steel beams, which are often used as I-beams and lighting columns in large construction steelworks.
Peter Allen, 37, was being supervised on his third shift at the site, during an operation in which wires were being used to suspend a beam being lowered into a 21m-long dip-bath of molten zinc. Mr Allen’s job had been to move the component remotely from the bath to a stand, via a crane. But, owing to a miscalculation of the beam’s weight, one of the wires failed and the beam fell into the bath.
Mr Allen’s colleagues, who were much more experienced than him, ran away as soon as they heard the wire snap. But as he was relatively new, Mr Allen stood his ground and the zinc splashed over him. Also, as the side-bars on the bath were down, the splash was not as contained as it could have been. As a result of the incident, which occurred on 21 November 2007, Mr Allen’s body and face were badly burnt and his eyesight is yet to recover.
The practice of estimating the weight of the beams has been followed in the industry for many years. HSE inspector, David Butter, told SHP: “There were weigh scales on the forklift truck, which was used to weigh beams once they had been dipped. Employees mostly over-estimated the weight and over-wired the beams for suspension.
“On this occasion, however, heavy base plates on one end of the beam made for an uneven weight distribution and hence, under-wiring of the beams. The forklift is now fitted with scales on the intake end so that the actual weight of components is known before being prepared to be placed into the dip bath.”
He also suggested that Mr Allen, who was standing outside the dip-bath exclusion zone, could have been better protected had he been wearing a full-face visor. However, Worksop Galvanizing had not realised the zinc would flow so far from the dip bath, and into the area where Mr Allen was standing.
Outside the exclusion zone, all of the workers wear safety boots, overalls and safety glasses. Inside the exclusion zone, PPE requirements are more stringent and include leather apron, full-face visor, and gauntlet gloves. The whole area beside the dip bath is now an exclusion zone to workers unless they are wearing full dip-bath PPE.
Given the fact that Mr Allen was inexperienced, the inspector stressed: “Working safely isn’t just about protective equipment; it’s about every worker being trained to do their job with minimum risk. Experience told Mr Allen’s colleagues to get out of the way fast when the wire broke, but he was too inexperienced to realise what was happening quickly enough, and was badly burnt.”
Sitting on 22 January, Worksop magistrates fined the company £7000 and ordered it to pay £4465 costs after it pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of its employees.
In mitigation, the company said it had carried out 8 million lifts over a 10-year period, during which only six wires had failed.
Colin Leighfield, operations director for the company’s parent firm, Wedge Group Galvanizing, told SHP that it was rigorous in training operators to assess weights, and reinforces this by ensuring they understand the technical aspects of correct wiring. He added that Mr Allen was a completely innocent party but that an experienced worker, for reasons that could not be explained, did not apply his knowledge to the usual standard.
“If [the experienced worker] had followed the normal procedures, then the safety factors built into our methodology would have been more than adequate to account for the lack of symmetry in weight distribution.”
Mr Leighfield admitted that the exclusion zone was inadequate and that the company had learnt from this, and had also carried out a programme to see how it could improve behavioural safety factors among its workforce.
The HSE is working with the Galvanizers’ Association to prepare safe-lifting guidelines for the sector following four serious incidents involving suspended loads in recent years.
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