HAZARDS
There is an alarming increase of VSC accidents & injuries involving installation, dismantling & service work on fire pumps and components. The injuries are strains & overexcretion to back and upper body, lacerations & punctures of hands, and struck-by while manually handling heavy equipment.
The highest risk is the installation or dismantling of the fire pump and components because of their weight. The weight of Fire pumps range from 1200lbs to over 10,000Lb. the 8-to-10-inch pipe, fittings and valves are also heavy. Manually Installing and dismantling this equipment is very physically demanding often requiring the use of material handling equipment such as forklift, crane, pallet jack or other mechanical devices. Unfortunately, employees who are injured did not use any of these options or ask for help.
OS&Y valves can weight 45lb to a few hundred pounds and employees have suffered back & hand injuries attempting to manually lift it.
Employees suffered serious back injury attempting to manually maneuver the pump onto the mounting support.
This has been the cause of serious Injury.
Ergonomics is also a root cause in some case. As seen here, to access equipment requires you to climb over or stand on equipment or overextend the body to reach the job tasks.
Overhead work can result in falls and dropped equipment
Prevention
Each of the injuries described above could have been prevented with planning, the use of material handling equipment, asking for help and wearing gloves.
Each fire pump room or mechanical space has different configurations, size, accessibility, and obstacles. Because of this, Supervisors must conduct a site hazard analysis to determine what safe methods & procedures for transporting, maneuvering and setup of pump & components inside a mechanical space will be needed. These job task must never be done manually! Always wear gloves!
In addition to cranes and forklifts there are options as seen here depending on access to the space to avoid
injury.
Safety precautions needed for each method & procedure identified in this evaluation must be written in a
JHA. Contact your VSC Regional Safety Manager for assistance.