Capital Equipment News MAY 2016

CAPITAL EQUIPMENT NEWS

MAY 2016

WORLD NEWS

WORK @ HEIGHT:

GOOD PRACTICE

OSHA UPDATES SCISSOR LIFT

HAZARD WARNING

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health

Administration (OSHA) has released an up-

dated hazard alert for scissor lifts following

a year-long investigation into incidents that

killed 10 people and injured more than 20.

All of the incidents were preventable,

the agency stated and most stemmed from

employers not addressing fall protection,

stabilisation or positioning.

The hazard alert provides the following

recommendations:

• Scissor lifts should be installed with

guardrails.

• Only trained workers should be allowed

to use scissor lifts and keep work within

easy reach to avoid leaning away from

the lift. Training should include never

standing on the guardrails.

• Employers should ensure scissor lifts are

stable by following the manufacturer’s

instructions and using the device outside

only in good weather conditions.

• Position scissor lifts at least 3 m away

from electrical power sources and im-

plement traffic controls to prevent work-

ers or vehicles from approaching the

lifts.

The alert was initially developed following

the death of a University of Notre Dame stu-

dent and employee in 2010. The untrained

employee was 11 m up in a scissor lift filming

a football team practice when winds – which

were gusting at more than 80.5 km/h, blew

the lift over and killed the worker.

PASMA TRAINING DIRECTOR

RETIRES

Stuart Hopkins, former director of training

from mobile tower association PASMA has

retired.

He has been instrumental in developing

and introducing a range of training cours-

es considered to be the industry standard

in the UK and increasingly internationally.

More than 70 000 PASMA PhotoCards are

now issued annually, compared with 45 000

in 2008. He holds the certificate in training

practice from the Chartered Institute of

Personnel Development, the RoSPA safety

instructors certificate and was chair of the

IPAF training committee, 2004-2005

Minister Ramatlhodi also stated that 35% of

mining fatalities are related to working at height.

This statistic is echoed in the construction sec-

tor and is compounded by a lack of fall protec-

tion gear and equipment, and undoubtedly a

lack of knowledge of safety requirements.

The construction boom in South Africa is rap-

idly driving up demand for work-at-height solu-

tions, and also increases the need to conform to

safety governing procedures, rules and regula-

tions. Recent changes to economic conditions

also drive a need for efficiency culminating in

deployment of improved ways of working at

height.

“The trend of deploying more mobile elevated

work platforms to perform work-at-height duties

more efficiently, requires proper instructions on

how to operate machinery while following safety

and compliance regulations.

"These are the prerequisites aimed at the re-

duction of fatalities in high risk industries,” says

Du Randt.

In addition, all driven machinery is regulat-

ed by the National Code of Good Practice and

therefore has to comply with this legislation.

NCOP 2015 associates mobile elevated work

platforms with a C53 license. Du Randt elab-

orated, “This license is currently based on the

MEWP unit standard and, albeit controversial in

its construct, delivers a sound basis for operat-

ing a MEWP. We found that some training pro-

viders incorrectly associate one of the crane unit

standards putting the operators and employers

at risk.” Operators should be transparent in

sharing this legislation with its customers.

In the construction, mining and energy indus-

tries it is compulsory that operators are properly

instructed on how to operate any mobile elevat-

ed work platforms, forklifts and telehandlers.

This extends to the lifting category where an

operator of a mobile elevated work platform with

a capacity of 750 kg or more requires a valid

license for operation. This license is renewable

every two years. Note that this regulation is su-

perseded by NCOP 2015 but should form the

absolute minimum when using the equipment.

Operators of machinery should always wear

appropriate personal protective equipment

(PPE). Further, they should understand the

components of the machine and its basic func-

tions, the possible hazards in the operating area

and emergency procedures in the event of an

accident.

According to the Occupational Health and

Safety Act 85 of 1993 the safety officer on site,

together with the employer, bear ultimate re-

sponsibility for understanding and adhering to

all safety policies and procedures. This respon-

sibility includes ensuring that all employees

know the Act.

“Discipline and vigilance are the cornerstones

of a shared safety culture. This means taking

time to plan the work, complying with all regu-

lations, rules, and governing safety procedures,

choosing the right equipment to perform the

work and then ensuring proper use,” concludes

Du Randt. Building a safety culture means pre-

venting unnecessary accidents. The upfront

effort and continued attention to this aspect of

high-risk work will make good business sense

in the long run.

Founded in 2003, the Eazi Group is Africa’s

market leader in rental, sales, servicing and

training of work-at-height solutions with the

largest and most diverse fleet of Scissor Lifts,

Boom Lifts, Mini Cranes, Personnel Lifts, High

Capacity Telehandlers, Rotational Telehandlers

and Telehandlers on the continent.

Born of a vision to make working-at-height

safer and more efficient in the workplace, the

Eazi Group is a 100 % South African owned

company that provides its products and ser-

vices to all sectors of the mining, light industrial,

heavy industrial, entertainment and construction

industries.

With its fleet always at the forefront of tech-

nological developments and the largest, most

qualified team of technicians in the industry, as

well as its partnerships with the best-of-breed

global manufacturers, the Eazi Group supplies

work-at-height solutions to its customers any-

where in Africa and prides itself on ensuring that

all its customers’ service and support require-

ments are met 24/7.

The Eazi Group has four business units: Eazi

Access Rental, Eazi Sales and Service, Eazi

Equip Africa and Uplift Quality Solutions as the

training division.

The company recently concluded an ac-

quisition with Ethos Private Equity, a leading

South African private equity investor into me-

dium-to-large businesses in South Africa and

sub-Saharan Africa.