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UKMHA Safety Alert: Disconnected hydraulic lines
The UK Material Handling Association (UKMHA) have published a warning about the risks of oil leaking from hoses during maintenance activities.
The first of a new series of Safety Alerts, which will be published regularly on the UKMHA website, are being created by the UKMHA Health & Safety Group to highlight hazards and safe working practices for technicians working on material handling equipment. They will be freely available to members and non-members alike.
David Goss, Technical Director for UKMHA says, “Safety is at the heart of UKMHA. We believe that information that can help prevent incidents occurring should be available to all. We have created these new documents as one-pagers, making them easy to download, print and share. Being a single sheet also means they can be displayed on Health & Safety or information notice boards within areas of relevant activity, enabling staff to have direct access to vital safety information.”
The first Safety Alert looks at an incident involving a disconnected hydraulic line which lead to an injury being sustained by the forklift engineer following an oil spillage. The document identifies the root cause and contributory factors, and offers guidance on actions that should be taken to prevent similar incidents occurring.
David Goss explains, “This particular incident resulted in the engineer sustaining a fractured wrist and three weeks of lost working time. This was a preventable situation, as are most incidents, which is why we feel it is vital to publish these Safety Alerts with clear instructions on how to avoid a similar situation which could result in an even worse outcome. Each Safety Alert we publish will highlight a different real-life incident and we urge those working in material handling to use and share this free resource to improve safety in their operations.”
This first Safety Alert is available to download now from the UKMHA website, https://ukmha.org.uk/advice-centre/best-practice-advice/ukmha-safety-alerts/ with others following later in the year. It will also be available as a hand-out to visitors to the UKMHA stand at IMHX in addition to other new safety documents being launched at the show.
“IMHX is critical to our engagement with everyone involved in the materials handling industry” says David Goss, “We encourage users and providers to attend IMHX and visit us on stand 5D12, where they can find out more about the work of UKMHA and take advantage of exclusive in show deals on Safe User Group Membership and Safety Convention tickets.”