Tag Archives: Heavy Equipment Accidents

Heavy equipment accidents

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

People say that accidents are quite prone in a construction zone and one can’t do much to stop them. Well, it is indeed true that one can’t do much to stop every form of accidents but can certainly work together to minimize the incidents that is not only causing harm to the reputation of the company but also leads to losing few good men. People will not be ready to work for a company that does not give importance to their safety. Workers in a construction site understands that accidents does happen but when they see that nothing is done to take care of the situation is when they start thinking of quitting. It is not wise to lose men like this and is therefore very crucial to take stock of the matter and ensure that proper mechanisms are brought in place to avoid them.

The most common form of accidents that occur in a construction site is from heavy equipment. The reasons of accidents can be different at different occasions but one should analyze the various reasons and come out with a formidable solution. It may not be an entirely foolproof one but may still work and you can then think of more ways to keep a check on this problem.

Stop using machines that are decades old:-

Heavy equipment that is pretty old are one of the major reasons of accidents. The operator has a very hard time to maneuver the machine and most of the times; he does not see the person and bumps him off. Since the machine is old, the brakes do not work properly which could have avoided a possible accident from happening. Moreover, the levers of the machines are also old and some of them might even be rusted. Well, proper care needs to be taken of the machine which is particularly old so that they do not become the reason of accidents.

Unavailability of competent operators:-

Earth moving heavy equipment are complicated machines and they require very able and experienced person to work on it. If you allow an inexperienced or an incompetent operator to work on such machine, it will lead to fatal accidents. It is therefore very significant to hire experienced and competent heavy equipment operator who has previously worked on that type of earth moving equipment.

Purchase machines that have rear visibility function:-

Not all heavy equipment are equipped with rear visibility function. This function allows the operator to monitor things at the rear of the machine. This means that when he is moving backwards, he does not have to put his head out of the window to check if there is someone behind the machine. All he needs to do is check the monitor which gives him the video of things at the rear and accordingly he can maneuver the stuff.

Keep your employees and heavy equipment insured:-

Heavy equipment accidents can lead to serious damage to the machine as well as to the worker. It is very crucial to get the machine as well as your employees insured. In case of any eventuality, the insurance company will take care of the monetary loss.

 

Related articles across the web

How to Avoid Heavy Equipment Accidents

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Are you going to start new business? Well, in that case you definitely want to choose the most profitable industry that can bring success within short period of time. Construction industry is definitely the best place that can help you to establish a great business. However, you have to continue your business very carefully and safely. Actually most of the accidents happen in the construction sites so, it is very essential to take serious steps and maintain the safety with the site. As you have to work with heavy equipment, so it is really important that you should give your full attention to the safety and security. If you fail to concentrate on the site then it you may find yourself in some unexpected danger.

Here are some tips that help you to prevent any unexpected danger or you can rescue yourself from such conditions.

At first you need to perform a site analysis. There are many professional experts who can help you in this work. You need to understand the situation and get familiarize with any unwanted hazards. If you can manage to learn how to face such problems then you can definitely make some solutions. You should also try to know that what types of personal protection you should need to take for protection. It is very important to have necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) for the proper protection. So, through these processes you will be able to recognize and can deal with that properly.

You should not use a piece of equipment because it can cause accidents. So, before using equipment, you have to check out whether it can be adjusted or not. Equipment has different parts and it is very important to give full attention to every part of the machine. You should try to give special attention to the rotating and moving parts of the machine. As those parts are the most important so they can cause huge accidents, therefore, it is good to take special care on the moving parts.

As the equipment is very expensive, so you should also verify it before buying. If there is any kind of damage then try to fix it. With damaged parts you cannot work in the construction site. It can increase the chances of risks. Damaged parts are always very risky as it can bring unexpected danger in the site. As you are running a construction site with a number of workers so you have to take their responsibility also.

It is very important to maintain the machine properly. Without a proper maintenance equipment can be damaged and cause huge accidents. Thereby, it is best to maintain your machine everyday to avoid such accidents.

These are the few steps that can maintain your machine and help you to avoid certain types of accidents. To work in the most secure atmosphere you should organize such facilities take care of it.

Related articles across the web

Highway Construction and Maintenance to Reduce Accidents

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

We all know that road is a chief means of transport that helps in developing the nations in all aspects. Roads help the nations to unite with each other. Earlier, travelling from one nation to another by roadways is quite problematic for the people but as the world is developing technologically, different modernised equipments are discovered to make the roads smooth so that travel becomes easy. Highway construction is basically a part of the civil engineering course that comprises of planning, design, construction, operation and preservation of roads, flyovers, and subways to provide safe and time-saving travel to the people. The highway engineer planned and design highways keeping in the mind the augmenting problem of traffic. There are many methods in constructing highways.

Various Designs of Highway Construction

The location, configuration and the shape of the highways are decided in the designing phase by the engineers. The engineers design the highway after completing the phase of planning and development. The designs of the highways depend on three features that are human, vehicular and roadway. It is the duty of the highway engineers to design the road properly so that the number of the accident cases reduced a little bit. There are many designs involved in highway construction that are as follows:

  • Lane width
  • Alignment, super elevation and grades
  • Level of Service (LOS)
  • Design traffic volume
  • Design speed
  • Number of lanes
  • Sight distance
  • Cross section
  • Horizontal and vertical clearance

Other than these there is a kind of design that is known as flexible pavement design. This design comprises of three or four layers and the longevity of this type of designed highways is 15 to 20 years. The speciality of this design is that the pavement is made up of hot mix asphalt.  Rigid pavement design is another important genus of highway construction design. This design is chiefly employed in building airports and foremost highways. Portland Cement Concrete is the most common substance that is used in this design. The longevity of this sort of design is more than 30 years and is constructed in three layers.

Methods of highway construction

  • Subbase course construction is a technique of highway construction that is positioned between the subgrade and base course of the path. The width of the subbase usually comes in the range of 4 to 16 inches and it is planned to support the structure of the pavement. The different materials used in this method are gravel, crushed stone, fly ash, cement or lime.
  • Base course construction is another kind of highway construction mode that is placed directly under the surface course. The usual thickness of this base course varies from 4 to 6 inches. When the heavy loads are put on the surface of the pavement, this base course becomes powerful to handle that load. The materials utilised in base course construction are often applied with cement, calcium chloride, sodium chloride, fly ash or lime. This amalgamation helps the base course to carry the heavy load of the pavement properly.

 

 

 

 

Heavy Equipment Accidents and How to Avoid Them

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Heavy Equipment Accidents and How to Avoid Them

Construction sites are prone to accidents and one has to be overly cautious when working inside a site. He/she must also follow all the safety measures to avoid a mishap and stay away from a potential danger. Most of the accidents that happen in a construction site are because of the negligence of the victim. However at times, it has been witnessed that a part of the heavy equipment had gone faulty that became the reason for the accident. By following safety measures, one can avoid the accidents that happen without the involvement of a machine; but how can one ensure the safety of others in a construction site when accidents are happening because of heavy equipments that has gone awry and has stopped working as it used to.

Well, the most suitable solution for this would be to replace the faulty part of the machine with a new one and check if it works fine then. If the problem still persists, it is prudent to get rid of the old machine and get a new one instead. This is a quickie. However, its costs a lot to buy a new machine and hence companies search for alternatives when they find their machines would not stretch more from here on. To be precise, they have not enough alternatives at their disposal. What they could have done was serviced the machine at regular intervals which would have revived the wear and tear caused on it over the years. Construction companies should have a maintenance department whose duty would be to ensure that the machines are in good order and they do not falter at work. Maintaining the machine by oiling them regularly and if necessary replacing the old part with a newer one should be the responsibility of the maintenance department.

Construction companies doing huge businesses are highly dependent on heavy equipments. With changes in technology, they need to introduce new machines that are comparatively far better than its predecessors. Not doing so can have serious consequences on the workers operating them. For example:- A person who just graduated from a technical institute have learnt to deal with machines with the latest technology. If he is asked to operate a machine of an older model, he may not understand the functionalities associated with the machine and might end up doing an accident. This means that either you stop recruiting the young guys in your company or change the old piece of metal with newer ones. Changes are bound to happen and in order to conduct business the way you always used to do, imbibing these changes and implementing them in your business will eventually help to avoid accidents in the workplace.

Avoiding controllable error is another significant step in reducing the instances of accidents occurring in the workplace. Controllable errors are errors that can be avoided. They are errors that are within your reach and can be eliminated. Lot of accidents happen due to sheer negligence which is nothing but controllable errors. Once these errors are contained, rest will follow smoothly.