Quick hitch debate 'a distraction' says safety group

The debate over semi-automatic and 'new generation' automatic quick hitches is a distraction, according to the Strategic Forum's Plant Safety Group working party. While emphasising that all couplers must be used in accordance with manufacturers' recommendations, the group's primary message is to keep workers out of the excavator's working range.

"An employer who thinks the problem will be removed by simply banning semi automatic couplers or only allowing hitches that lock onto both pins, is making a mistake," said working party chairman Kevin Minton of the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA). "These steps are not sufficient to ensure a complete safe system of work.

"If nobody is working beneath an attachment that detaches from a coupler, then it is a serious incident but unlikely to become a serious accident or a fatality," said Minton. "Discussing the merits of one coupler against another is a distraction from the need to concentrate on keeping workers away, as part of a safe system."

To that end, the Plant Safety Group, is to re-issue guidance for site managers, making keeping workers away from the machine's working range the first recommendation. It will also publish separate advice for site workers and plant operators.

"Every site worker within the working range of a machine is in a danger area," said Minton. "As well as keeping away from the bucket, that includes walking behind a telehandler or a wheel loader, getting between an excavator's counterweight and a wall, or standing beneath a suspended load."

The group expects to publish a best practice guide for quick hitches by the end of the year.

BLOB: All plant-related advice published by the Strategic Forum Plant Safety Group and its working parties is now available on the CPA's website at www.cpa.uk.net.