Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/605412
EquipmentWorld.com | December 2015 51 T he bodies of articulated trucks, because of their design and the uneven terrain they work, can too easily roll over. Don Swasing, chief operating officer at Schlouch, knew this, but was bothered by the fact that these rollovers were seen as inevitable. There was a lot of complacency, he says. When told that X-number of rollovers could be expected in a year, he thought: that's unacceptable – that number needs to be zero. So Swasing started doing root-cause analysis of the rollovers that had occurred at jobs where Schlouch ran artics and found that the problem was bigger than just complacency. There were a lot of gaps in opera- tors' knowledge. There was an attitude that artics were disposable machines. There was also a culture of fear among operators who didn't want to be accused of be- ing a screw up and so didn't report near misses. "We had to eradicate that process," says Swasing. The company engaged Cat Safety Services and the consult- ing firm Graham Company to provide qualified instruc- tor partners. Together they put together a re-education program aimed at changing the culture and attitudes. "We found a lack of consistency and personal ac- countability," says Steve Nester, Schlouch's estimator/ project manager and department coordinator. "The key was to use setbacks to train other people and slow down and share the information," he says. "We learned not to get hung up on the accident and play the blame game, but to use it as a learning tool. Don't manage by fear. Inspire people as a leader," he says. In addition to further safety audits, the company also beefed up its general safety awareness with a Speak Up-Listen Up campaign for all employees. Key leaders took the OSHA 30-hour construction-training course and personnel were also certified in the Safety Trained Supervisors Construction (STSC) course put on by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. Additional investments in safety training planned for 2016 include the OSHA 30-hour course for all foremen and crew leaders and additional field safety audits. The program to date has resulted in a 14 percent reduction in accidents and employee engagement in safety issues has consistently increased, says Swasing. A lthough there were no injuries, excessive equip- ment damage and rising safety incidents had begun to take away from the bottom line at AECOM's Black Thunder Mine in Wright, Wyoming. Manage- ment convened a group to investigate the incidents and when they did, one fact stood out prominently, says John DePoorter, equipment manager. Almost all the incidents were happening at the same time of day: midmornings and mid-afternoon to quit- ting time. So the mine's safety committee came up with a 10-2- 4 plan where all the operators would stop during their shifts at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., and get on the radio for a quick safety talk. During that time operators could update each other on problems with mine site or haul roads, things like icy patches on the road or a missing berm or just safety in general. The strategy not only gives workers real time safety information, but it fights off fatigue and discourages complacency. "It just seemed to wake everybody up," says DePoorter, "and we have good conversations back and forth between the operators." Responsibility for convening the safety break is assigned to different employees to ensure participation and engagement, he says. The only cost has been 10 minutes of labor time per operator per shift. The benefit is that the company has decreased incidents by 50 percent or better, says DePoorter. "It's worked out well for us." COMPLACENCY ON ARTIC ROLL- OVERS GETS A RUDE AWAKENING. 5 THREE QUICK SAFETY BREAKS EACH DAY UPS AWARENESS, SLASHES INCIDENTS 6 Part # Description Rebuilt Price 9J8165 Cylinder $2,100 9T5218 Cylinder Barrel $ 915 1115692A D11R Tilt Cylinder $4,500 3G5707 D9N Tilt Cylinder $4,250 6E3834 225/225B Cylinder $ 800 1184023 320 Boom Cylinder $3,704 2043614 320B Lift Cylinder $3,000 875491 320L Boom Cylinder $2,926.57 Whayne_EW0214_PG095.indd 1 1/27/14 2:30 PM