Hi all, I am in the process of creating procedures for safe access into truck mounted concrete mixer drums for the breaking out of hardened material. I am looking for any advise or procedures that other may have used in the past. I am aware of the requirement to try and prevent the access by the correct washing out procedures but it seems that due to the mix being so dry this is unavoidable. All help and direction appreciated. Regards R

Also not my area of speciality and so also professional guessing (isn't that half of what we do!!). Flying debris. (goggles, hard hat?) Stressful postures (rest breaks, knee pads?) Not sure about Barries's suggestion of LEV on a practical level. RPE may be more practical but may add to the heat stress inside.

R You also need an effective means of ensuring that the drum and lorry remain stationary while anyone is inside the drum. If power to rotate the drum is derived somehow from the lorry engine, a simple but highly effective precaution would be for the person doing the cleaning to always have the vehicle ignition key in his/her pocket or elsewhere on their person while inside the drum. This aspect stems from experience during my HSE days of investigating several accidents which commonly involved a person engaged in cleaning or unblocking the inside of a machine and being seriously injured when the machine was inadvertently started up by a colleague. Two of the cases, one involving a large paddle type mixing machine at a concrete slab making factory, the other a road gritting lorry hopper in which damp rock salt had hardened to form a bridge over the screw auger in its base, led to prosecutions of the respective employers. In both cases the employers pled guilty and were convicted for failure to provide a safe system of work as required by Section 2 HSW Act 1974.

Would it be classified as a confined space?

You may find some useful information here: http://www.safequarry.com/index.aspx