Fintray
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- Thread starter Fintray
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chunkolini
celebrity artiste
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Shocking stuff.
From the article:
"In addition the disk was rated for 6650 rpm but the grinder was running at 12,000 rpm.
The grinder had no guard so as it exploded, the pieces were forcibly expelled across the bay, one ending up some ten metres away."
Using a disc at about twice its rated speed and having no guard as well, is just asking for trouble.
Looking through the list of previous incidents with grinders which the inspectors uncovered, but which the company hadn't troubled to record, the company must have had a slapdash attitude to safety for a long time.
"In addition the disk was rated for 6650 rpm but the grinder was running at 12,000 rpm.
The grinder had no guard so as it exploded, the pieces were forcibly expelled across the bay, one ending up some ten metres away."
Using a disc at about twice its rated speed and having no guard as well, is just asking for trouble.
Looking through the list of previous incidents with grinders which the inspectors uncovered, but which the company hadn't troubled to record, the company must have had a slapdash attitude to safety for a long time.
Kent
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Please note "Guard was off the machine and could have potentially prevented this" working with a disc not rated for the speed it was running at etc. The real shocker is it actually went through his visor! 
Very sad but for the company not to have acted after earlier incidents is disgraceful.
Very sad but for the company not to have acted after earlier incidents is disgraceful.
wheresmejumper
Banned
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Not trying to be heartless but he had 2 close calls before the fatal incident.id put a fair bit of the blame on his shoulders
Yes, but if you are in a culture where dangerous things are being done, which can usually be gotten away with, it's easy to fit in with it.
It really has to be the company's responsibility to change that and ensure the law is complied with. Allowing machines to be used without guards, allowing machines to be used unsafely, not recording accidents, apparently no attempt to investigate previous accidents and correct problems. Training? Safety awareness? That company appears to have been caught with its pants down, not even making an effort.
Now I know H&S can be taken to extremes and to the extent that nothing could happen, but on the face of it, this case looks totally blatant.
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Thing is, health and safety is everyone's responsibility. The chap in question could have learned more from previous incidents but I feel it's a bit unfair to criticize too much as the guy is now dead from it. The company should be providing a safe environment for its workforce and giving good training. All in all a culture of safe working is what you want but not over the top as then bugger all gets done.
wheresmejumper
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Yes i agree with you,but there is a responsibility on both the employer and the employee to have a safe working environment.
He isnt at fault more than the company,but fool me once....
winchman
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The company should have had a Safe System of Work.
He should be trained and the training recorded.
PUWER 98 replaced the Abrasive Wheel regs 1970 guess when ?? 1998 so they have had a few years to get it right, 45 years to be exact, shocking that some one has to be injured before its enforced.
They should be following this
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg17.htm
Unless of course in a court of law they could prove that the system they had in place was better, I doubt it
Kent
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Workplace culture creates accidents and there is little doubt that was the case there. I have worked in two shops that both had horrific accident rates- totally down to the bosses attitude, same trade elsewhere and the odd cut and such was all you generally see. If a guy working for me tries something daft he gets it in the neck, do it again and that's it. Not being soft but I can do without it especially the grief that will come afterwards and the potential rise in premiums. Like it or not the boss has a legal duty of care for H&S
I don't think you can totally remove responsibility from the employee but legally and reasonably, the employer takes most of the responsibility. I think that's partly to make the law work.
There's also a difference in power between a bloke on the shop floor and management.
If someone operating a machine spots that 6000 rpm discs are routinely being used in a machine doing 12,000 rpm he's probably got no option but to report it to management. The good reasons for not using the discs are:
It's dangerous and could get someone hurt.
It could hold up production.
It could mean heavy fines.
it could damage machinery.
It could mean having the HSI round like a swarm of bees looking into all sorts of things.
Management can:
Take it up and make sure proper discs are used.
Ignore/dismiss it.
Call the bloke a trouble maker.
If the MD was doing his rounds and spotted that 6000 rpm discs were being used in a 12,000 rpm machine and decided it wasn't on, he could make things happen.
RonA
specialist in repairing sealed for life equipment
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I'm a fan of the American programme "American hot rod " Boyd Coddingtons business. I much admire the workers skill, not too keen on some of the final products but some of their work practices are certainly dubious on a Health & Safety level. The workers are often portrayed slitting steel sheet using an air die grinder with an unguarded cutting disc attached. Wonder how many disc disintegrations they experienced.
RonA
roofman
Purveyor of fine English buckets and mops
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yea and welding hiding behind the shroud..ok we all do it to tack once in a while but those guys go for it.
colnerov
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Hi, a couple of questions. I wonder whether they're on bonus or under pressure, spoken or unspoken to get the castings dressed and out quickly? A bigger disc on a faster machine will do it quicker. The mention of the guard is misleading because a guard for a 2" disc won't go round a 9" one. Either you have a guard or a bigger disc. Having said that efforts had been made to make an adaptor to get it on. Where did that idea come from I wonder? I think the company wrongly turned a blind eye (no pun intended) because it was cost effective in the short term. Not so much now.
Colin
Colin
mike os
just a little insane.....
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speaks of a shocking attitude to safety be the employees and employer... both are to blame. for a one off "silly" either way you can point blame at one party or the other, but for things like this to be routine ( the use not the accident) both parties are equally culpable and stupid.
A Totally avoidable accident and with total disregard for safety. Reading the report perhaps unfairly, I have to put some blame on the blokes shoulders. Some HSE stuff is just, so, so simple. If you have never done a PUWER 98 course then you shouldnt be touching a grinder of any shape or size and certainly not mounting or changing wheels/discs. I think that onus is on you and your employer. HSE has come on leaps and bounds in just a few years and there should be no defence for ingnorance.
Stan
Stan
