The Strategic Forum Plant Safety Group (SFPSG) releases a new publication on plant safety entitled, “Reducing Unintended Movement of Plant - Managing Exposure to Consequential Risks.”
Unintended movement of plant machinery occurs when inadvertent operation of a control such as a switch, lever or pedal occurs, causing unintended machine movement that can potentially cause serious injuries and fatalities. The new publication, which has been developed in conjunction with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), provides guidance on a range of control measures to help prevent this from happening.
The working group for this project identified that in principle, inadvertent operation occurs through:
- The operator unknowingly activating a control lever.
- The operator intentionally activating a control lever but a different action occurs than what they expected.
- The operator (or other) bypassing or defeating a safety system.
In identifying and documenting actions to help manage the exposure to the consequential risks of unintended movement, a number of topics are covered within the guidance including planning, machine selection and training, along with case studies of actual incidents and an analysis of the causes, consequences and outcomes of each. The publication details how incidents happened and how they could have been prevented.
For more information, visit: www.cpa.uk.net
