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Posted By halesowen Baggie
I am in the process of completing a SSOW for our fork lift truck safety cage.
I am looking at emergency proceedures.
If the lifting gear were to fail in the fully elevated position, how would IOSH members rescue the person stuck in the cage?
We only have one cage, so therefore we couldnt send another platform up.
Any ideas?
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Posted By Bruce Wayne
Is a forklift cage the correct selection of equipment? It should only be used for short duration non-routine, emergency work. If you have not already seen it, I suggest that you read HSE Guidance note PM28.
A MEWP such as a cherry picker or scissor lift are the first choice as they have a secondary back-up system to lower in an emergency.
There have been previous threads on this topic if you search for them.
Regards
Bruce
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Posted By halesowen Baggie
Bruce
I have read guidance note PM28 and do know that the cage is only to be used for non routine work.
But the HSE, in their guide for officers indicate that they want shown in any SSOW an emergency proceedure for when the cage IS used.
I am struggling to think of a way to get the person down in the unlikely event that the lifting equipment fails in the elevated position. It isnt going to happen, the trucks are new and checked every day, we have linde on site daily and the engineer virtually lives here.
I have decided to stipulate that if the cage fails in the elevated postion we call the fire brigade, my concern is that if somebody falls out of the cage and is suspended in the air on fall arrest harness, what do we do then as dangling on a harness could lead to orthostatic syndrome if the person is not got down quick.
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Posted By Brian Dunckley
When using forklifts with cages the controls should be duplicated in the cage, if a failure occurs the supervisor should be able to wind the machine down.
Fall restraint is recommended rather than fall arrest to eliminate falls from the basket, this requires adequate fixings.
The fire brigade may not attend immediately, because of this the operator should be trained in abseiling techniques as required in parts of the construction industry.
Personally I would not use a forklift with acage.
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Posted By Rob Yuill
It seems that you may be suggesting a person trapped in the cage would attempt to leave the cage and descend using access equipment i.e. ladder?
Being trapped for a short period is surely preferable to the risk of falling when attempting egress?
You have to assess the likelihood of a well maintained FLT failing in the raised position before exploring the "rescue" option. Given that the use of the cage will be occasional this would seem to be unlikely, also in every FLT I've been involved with the forks decend under gravity with power removed. So we may be talking about a serious mechanical failure that could quite possibly compromise the safety of the persons in the cage.
Incidentally the use of a fall arrest block / device with controlled descent may be an option, but to what would you fix it, Skyhooks were banned under the Work at Height Regs!
Rob
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