Share Accident 1: Mechanical Injury

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Here is the account of a mechanical injury accident that occurred in our company in 2014: On April 24, 2014, during the shift handover for boiler operation, the shift supervisor assigned personnel to conduct inspections, confirming that the cover of the coal feeder was in good condition and that all other equipment was operating normally. At 15:53, the shift leader assigned the assistant boiler operator to go to the coal feeder room to take over the task of feeding coal ； After taking over, the assistant furnace operator removed the cover of the coal feeder. While poking at the coal, he accidentally dropped the walkie-talkie from his left jacket pocket into the coal feeder, which should have been covered by that cover. He tried to retrieve the walkie-talkie with his right hand, but the chain of the coal feeder caught his wrist; he immediately pulled his hand back, but the chain dragged his entire arm as well, resulting in the complete severing of his right upper limb and forearm by the chain. Using his left hand, he took out the severed limb and the walkie-talkie, then used the walkie-talkie to inform his colleagues, before carrying the severed limb downstairs. Upon receiving the notification, the shift leader immediately sent people to check the situation; they met the assistant boiler operator at the stairwell and then called to inform the shift supervisor, the office staff, and other factory managers. Upon receiving the news, the office manager immediately called 120 and arranged for a factory vehicle to take the injured away. Cause of the accident: 1. The assistant boiler operator illegally removed the cover of coal feeder No. 2 in Boiler No. 2, which was the direct cause of the accident. 2. The assistant boiler operator violated safety regulations severely: without obtaining the necessary permits, shutting down the machinery, or deactivating it, he reached his hand into the operating equipment to retrieve a walkie-talkie, which resulted in his hand being caught by the equipment. This was the direct cause of the accident. 3. Employees lack a strong sense of safety ； The indirect causes of the accident were the slow rotation speed of the feeder chain, carelessness and recklessness, as well as reaching a hand directly into the feeder while the equipment was still in operation. 4. Inadequate safety training in workshops and teams ； Employees’ insufficient and incomplete awareness of the hazards at the coal feeder led to them failing to realize that their hands could be caught by the equipment, which was an indirect cause of the accident. 5. The design of the coal feeder cover is unreasonable, posing safety hazards ； The coal feeder cover plate can be easily removed by employees without any fixing devices, which is an indirect cause of the accidents. 6. The lax enforcement of internal factory regulations, inadequate implementation of relevant procedures, failure to follow the rules in actual operations, and employees’ violations of rules and discipline are the indirect causes of the accidents. 7. The corrective measures were not properly implemented. The security department has repeatedly emphasized that the cover of the coal feeder must not be removed without permission, and corrective action notices have been issued. During the comprehensive inspection on the 20th of this month, it was also stressed at the site of the coal feeder that its cover must not be removed ； However, the weak safety awareness of some operators, who still removed the coal feeder chain cover plates without permission, was an indirect cause of the accident. Preventive measures: 1. Revise and study the company’s internal management systems; organize all employees to study the “two tickets and three systems”; carry out efforts to address instances of “three violations” (illegal command, illegal operations, and violation of labor discipline) in order to eliminate such violations. 2. Strengthen safety training for registered employees by organizing them to study accident cases, and enhance the content of safety education and training at the company, workshop, and team levels, so that all employees can fully understand the safety hazards associated with their respective positions and raise their awareness. 3. Strengthen the content of the three-level training for new employees, increase education on equipment protection, and raise their safety awareness. 4. Conduct hazard identification, implement preventive measures for hazards, and provide employee training. 5. Strengthen the management at the coal feeder and carry out technical upgrades to the coal feeder cover. Strengthen the management of protective measures for other rotating equipment; it is strictly prohibited to remove such protective devices without authorization. 6. Carry out safety hazard inspections on a workshop or team basis (focusing on hazards that arise from unreasonable equipment design or inadequate safety measures and that pose a risk to human safety); eliminate such hazards, and report any identified hazards to the Safety Department for compilation. 7. At each team meeting, it is required to conduct a dynamic review of the hazard remediation projects that have been completed within the past month. 8. The shift supervisor should try to avoid assigning other professionals to carry out coal poking tasks; if it is truly necessary to assign someone to do this, the boiler team leader shall provide training and education, informing them of the precautions to take during the operation as well as the measures needed for self-protection ； At the same time, the boiler workshop should manage the coal poking tools properly, ensuring that their length is restricted so it does not exceed the height of the coal hopper, thereby preventing these tools from getting caught in the feeder chain. The injured person lost their right arm like that