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Posted By KMD
Help!
This is the story: A jackhammer chisel broke 9cm from its tip whilst being used to break out concrete, the chisel then "bounced" onto the operative's foot (because he did not realise that it had snapped), past the steel toe cap and he ended up with a nasty cut (and was subsequently off work for over three days - yes it has been reported)
Questions are 1)Is this a common problem? (some say yes, others say no!) 2)Is there a specific training course that the operative should have been on? 3)We are considering purchasing metatarsal protecting boots for use when conducting this type of work - any views?
Any help much appreciated.
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Posted By Jane Blunt
The broken pieces will give you many clues as to what has happened. For instance, there would usually be enough visual clues on the surface to tell you whether it broke as a result of a single impact, or whether a crack had been growing for some time.
If it were the former, then if the part were new it is possible that the part was defective. Alternatively it may have been subject to an unusual load - this would be a training issue.
However there may ave been a crack in the part for some time, growing bit by bit until it reached the critical length. In this case avoidance of catastrophic failure can only be achieved by taking the part out of service before the crack gets too long. This might be on the basis of inspection or hours of service.
Jane
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Posted By KMD
Thank you Jane
We are going to send it off for checking but in the meantime are looking at what additional controls we need to try to stop it happening again - hence the training and ppe questions. Management seem to feel they've never seen this before, the hire company is claiming the same, but a concrete sub-contractor is saying its common....
I've seen them go much higher up before - near the collar - but the end result was no damage to the operator because the whole machine just moved way from him, the difference in this instance was that he didn't know it had failed and so kept on breaking..
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Posted By Karen Todd
I have to say, the only people I've ever seen wearing safety footwear with metatarsal protection are BOC gas bottle delivery men.
Hopefully you'll get some good feedback from here though as to how often this happens, risk factors, etc so you can update your risk assessments and controls as needed.
Karen
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Posted By KMD
Thanks Karen, here's hoping - not much response so far! I think the metatarsal boots are also known sometimes as foundry boots - but whether the protection is strong enough to protect against a jack hammer or not...
Its a tricky one this!
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Posted By Mitch
KMD
'foundry boots' in my experience only have an additional external leather tongue to stop molten metal going into the boot and offer little mechanical protection.
Mitch
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Posted By Konstanty Budkiewicz
KMD,
Another factor to consider is was the tool counterfeit? Counterfeit tooling often has been subject to poor heat treatment processes that lead to early and unexpected failure. Poor casehardening of hammer faces being a case in particular, that led to a craftsman losing the sight of one eye through the hammer face shattering during use (packaging appeared correct, but was also forged).
I know its a little late, but it may be worth sending a new tool to your analyst to confirm that both meet the manufacturer's design spec.
Kon
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Posted By Jane Blunt
You can tell whether the part was within specification and correctly heat treated by examining the broken one.
Jane
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Posted By KMD
Again - thank you to those that have posted in response.
Mitch - I'll make quite sure about what we're offered then before spending money!
Ron - The tool was on hire, so hope it was ok - but the tests should id any issues.
Still no closer to being able to judge if this was a one off, or an industry known risk, and what to look for in terms of training to mitigate though.... anyone??
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Posted By Jane Blunt
You can only mitigate it by training if there is something that the person using the tool might usefully do.
a) if it turns out that the part was broken through misuse, then this is a training issue.
b) if it turns out that there was a pre-existing crack that should have been visible to someone using the tool then that could also be a training issue.
If there was a pre-existing crack in a place where it would not have been readily visible then there is little that you could do.
Jane
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Posted By KMD
Hi everyone
thanks for the link Mitch - they too recommend metatarsals. I've just sent someone off to quiz the ppe supplier!
Kon - sorry - just noticed my typo in your name!
With regards to whether it was being properly used - I don't know that we'll ever find out - I rather suspect that I will get the "well it all happened so quickly" line!
The Hire Company have offered training/demonstrations so we may go down that route, and the tool is currently with a metallurgist. Will let you know the outcome of that.
Katie
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