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Posted By Simon Carrier
Good morning
I just wanted to chat with like minded people on this one. We have a large hole in the ground, call it a quarry if you like even though it is not used as one. We have what I consider to be good engineering controls to protect our people from rock falls. Around the edge is a road and footpath that is accessable by Joe public. On some visits to the hole I have noticed the odd broken bottle, obviously thrown over the edge by Joe public or his offspring. Whilst I am comfortable with our staff working in the hole not wearing a Hard hat I am concerned that the odd bottle or other object could be thrown whilst they are below and cause injury. I think it would be wise to enforce wearing hats as we have identified a foreseeable situation but would like other opinions on this.
thanks
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Posted By Robert (Rod) Douglas
Simon,
If you have identified a Hazard then you must either eliminate the Hazard or put sufficient controls methods in place to reduce the risk of someone being harmed by the hazard. (i.e. flying bottles)
If you cannot deny Joe Public access or some sort of protective netting aroung the edge of the hole, then hard hats should, "No", must be worn by staff in the hole!!.
What other PPE do they wear if any?
And what type work are they undertaking?
Yours Aye,
Rod D
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Posted By David Brede
i would have thought that the 'hole in the ground' may have material that could fall away from the sides and create a hazard to justify wearing hard hats anyway.
The real answer is that the broken bottles are good evidence of Joe Public misbehaving in the way you suggest or a trespassing issue that requires a fencing solution.
Either that or is there a drink problem on your site?
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Posted By Mark Talbot
Remember that PPE is the last link of defence. Depending on height, and type of bottle, would a hard hat even stop an injury - certainly doesn't protect shoulders, backs, etc. What's in the bottles? What if they start throwing other things? Tackle the root of the problem, not the end result. Maybe you just need to prohibit the public during work hours if you can... [a reasonable compromise for the dog walkers / sight seers?]. If not, a fence might be required.
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Posted By Simon Carrier
Good morning and thank you for your thoughts. With regard to material falling from the rockface, I consider that we have sufficient engineering controls in place to protect our employees from any stray rocks. We do indeed have a fence around the top which is some distance away from the edge itself and is inspected regularly for any damage, public are not allowed any access near to the edge at all. Unfortunately we cannot stop the public from walking or driving around the top. It is land open to the public who live nearby and is frequented by dog walkers et al. The bottles appear to be the type you buy in the local shop I think they are called "stubbies" or something like that. I have decided to carry out some tests to ascertain just how far such an item may reach and then put in some additional controls. Thank you for your thoughts.
regards
Simon
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Posted By Ken Taylor
I'm not familiar with the hole but could some shrub/tree planting (either around or on the sides) inhibit the flight of the missiles?
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Posted By Merv Newman
How deep is your hole ? From personal experience the terminal velocityxmass of a glass 33 cl beer bottle falling from 20 meters is insufficient to dent a glass fibre hard hat. Gives you one hell of a surprise though. Picking myself up I cut my hand on the broken glass.
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