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Wearing life jackets inside the cabs of mobile plant
Rank: New forum user
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Where mobile plant has to work at the waters edge should the operators wear a life jacket in case their machine/vehicle overturns and falls into the water?
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Rank: Forum user
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Not an area I work in but I would suggest start with a method statement, safe system of work and risk assessment to identify any need. Personally if I needed to wear a life jacket I would be concerned that the work was not safe.
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Rank: New forum user
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Thanks for the reply hopeful. I take your point about not feeling safe but a good risk assessment should also deal with what could happen if control measures fail or are ignored.
In this case I'm thinking what if someone ends up in the water inside the cab of mobile plant? If the life jacket inflates and they're still inside then could they get stuck or would they be able to get out safely, in which case they would probably be grateful that they had a life jacket on to keep them buoyant and their head above water.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Depends
on the jacket depends on the vehicle and the door – should form part of your
assessment. If a self-inflating jacket could be a problem then provide a manual
inflating one. All part of the risk assessment process
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Rank: Super forum user
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Onomah, Brian is correct- you need to look at what type of Bouyancy aid is required in the context of the Risk assessment- there are a lot of types. I think that the ports and maritime industries could be a source of some useful guidance on this type of risk assessment
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Rank: Super forum user
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Not an area within my expertise but my gut feeling is it should not be necessary for plant operators to wear life jackets which could inhibit their escape from the cab if it was to inflate. There should be adequate controls in place to ensure vehicles do not overturn or end up in the water. Plus it is normal when working adjacent to water that operators are not required to wear a harness in the case of MEWPS so that they do not become entangled and drown, which is a bigger risk than falling into water.
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Rank: Super forum user
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I agree with RayRapp. In theory there should be virtually zero likelihood of the crane toppling into the water if it is the right crane in the right place being operated by competent people. On the other hand if you just google “crane falling into the water” you will find loads of examples where at least one of these criteria has not been observed. The question is therefore: if I suspect that that this is going to go wrong should I a) stop it and do it right or b) accept the situation and look at mitigating it?
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Wearing life jackets inside the cabs of mobile plant
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