Safety And Risk Analysis /Engineering
ENGG5103 Safety Systems & Risk Analysis
Incident Investigation Exercise
Incident Information Update #2 – Friday Week 11
The following list contains information pertaining to the incident related to the crane incident (note this information is fictional and any resemblance to real people companies etc. is coincidental):
• It is 3 days after the event. • Hospital report – Worker 1 – David Smith is in an induced coma, he suffered fractures to his pelvis and right
upper femur, plus abdominal bleeding, and he also has a fractured skull. His status is currently listed as critical but stable.
• The following information was obtained through interviews with people involved and/or witnesses to the incident o Juan Garciella – Worker 2 – “I was operating the crane at a safe lift speed and using correct procedures, I
heard the radio call to start the lift and did so. From my viewpoint it looked OK to lift and the guy on the radio said it was.”
o Yan Chan – Worker 3 – “I was on the back of the truck with Dave securing the load, I’d done my side and gave him the thumbs up, all was good as far as I could see. The load was lifted and I turned to get off the truck, suddenly I heard someone yell out ‘look out’ and I started turning around, but the scaffolding gear fell down on top of Dave and knocked me off the truck bed”. Yan received cuts and abrasions from his fall and a sprained ankle from when he landed on the ground beside the truck.
o Sam McDonald – Worker 4 Truck driver – “I was on the left side of my truck watching them rig up the last load, it looked to me like the chain wasn’t secured properly on my side of the truck and I waved to the guy on the truck bed to get his attention, but he didn’t see me cause of the dust and stuff from the site. The crane started lifting the load and I got his attention, but then it dropped, I yelled out but it fell on him”. Straight away I called out for someone to get help and call first aid, then jumped up on the truck. I started taking the poles off the poor fella. The first aider got there pretty fast, would have only been a few minutes. The guy was bleeding and not responding to me so I didn’t move him. I got off and let the first aid fella take over.”
o Duncan Jones – Worker 5 was the radio spotter for the crane operator. “I saw Yan give the thumbs up and then Dave also give thumbs up, so I gave the call to start the lift. It probably got lifted 3-4 metres or so when one side gave out and all the poles fell down. It wasn’t my fault, I got the thumbs up!”
o Matt Hay – “I was using the jack hammer near the accident, I didn’t know anything had happened until someone stopped me doing my work, then we ran over to try and help move the poles off that poor guy.”
o Sarah Wilson – “I was walking towards the truck, but I was still a good 20m or so away from it and it was really dusty cause of the excavation work nearby, but I could see the guys on the back as the load was lifted. Suddenly the load dropped and I saw a whole heap of the scaffolding poles fall down, all over Dave. He yelled out, and disappeared under the poles. I ran over to see if I could help, and a few other guys that were working the excavation also ran over.”
o Will Nelson (Supervisor of Juan Garciella – Highlift Cranes) – “Juan has only been with us for about two weeks, he seemed to be a capable crane operator from what I’ve observed … we can provide his crane operator training certification and white card safety induction..”
o Charlie Wang (Shift Supervisor “Ground Up Constructions”) – “Dave has worked for us for around 4 years I think; he’s always been a good worker and knows his way around a construction site and has all his rigging certifications. I can get verification of his white card induction and training records…”
o Sam Easton – “I was working in the excavation next to where the accident happened, I saw the load drop suddenly and all the scaffolding poles falling down, but I didn’t see Dave go under it. It was pretty dusty from the diggers and jack hammers we had going. I feel pretty bad because we had been saying yesterday that we needed to get more water down here to keep the dust down, but the boss hadn’t done nothing about it yet. I helped move the poles off Dave, poor bloke got crushed pretty bad.”
