Semi-automatics banned from Olympic Park

Contractors working on the Olympic Park site have agreed an immediate ban on semi-automatic quick hitches.

The ban was agreed at a meeting between the Olympic Park's safety, health and environment leadership team and 'tier one' contractors, called to discuss the issue of accidents and near-misses with semi-automatic quick hitches. All excavators on the site equipped with quick hitches must now be fitted or retro-fitted with 'fully automatic next-generation' couplers and the operators will require familiarisation training.

Lawrence Waterman, the Olympic Delivery Authority's head of health and safety, said: "We think this is the first step in semi-automatic quick hitches disappearing from the industry and being replaced by the much safer double-locking automatics. This is a good example of how contractors on the 2012 project are working together to make the industry safer."