Aircraft loses entire propeller assembly on approach to Sydney.

On 17th March, a SAAB 340 flying from Albry to Sydney lost the entire starboard propeller assembly.  The aircraft made a safe landing on runway 16R (arrowed red below).

The propeller assembly was not found for several days and was found in bush area. From reports, it looks like it was found in the red circled area.  If this is correct, then it must have been only a minute of so from falling into the suburbs.

The propeller assembly became detached as the crew shut down that engine and feathered the prop. It is reasonable to expect that the shut-down and prop-loss were related. Fortunately, the prop did not strike any of the flight surfaces.

Nine years ago in the USA, a SAAB 340 suffered a similar prop. loss.  This was caused by a manufacturing fault in the ingot used for the prop. shaft where there was sub-surface slag. This lead to a fatigue failure of the shaft.  It will be interesting to see if the same fault is found on the remnants of the shaft and if this shaft came from the same ingot or batch of ingots as the US aircraft.

Chose the right class of ladder

Quite often, I see domestic ladders used in industrial environments, for which they are totally unsuited.  When choosing a ladder, look at the label, as shown above.

Class 1 Industrial -  This is the type best suited for industrial use.
Class EN131 -         This is suitable for light industrial use and heavy domestic DIY work.
Class III Domestic - This is exactly all that it should be used for. It is not substantial enough
                                 for any industrial use.

MOD agency driver killed by reversing lorry

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been issued with a Crown Censure after a driver was fatally injured by a reversing vehicle.

The circumstances were:

• On 19 November 2013 Graham Wood, an agency driver working for the MoD, and a colleague were delivering goods to a large holding area in MoD Kineton.
• The MoD failed to assess the risks created by the movement of large vehicles in the area.  
• They failed to ensure a safe system of work was in place to identify and control the risks presented by the movement of large vehicles in this area.
• Mr Wood was crushed between a reversing lorry and a stationary vehicle. 
• Following the incident, a safe system of work including marked parking bays, well defined walkways for pedestrians and a one way system has been introduced.

After delivering the Crown Censure, Jane Lassey, HSE’s deputy director of field operations said:
“The risks arising from vehicle movements are well known and suitable measures required to reduce these risks are understood. Like any other employer, the MoD has a responsibility to reduce dangers to agency workers, as well as their own employees, on their sites as far as they properly can, and in this case they failed Graham Wood. By accepting the Crown Censure, the MoD admitted breaching its duty under Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 in that they exposed their employees and those not directly employed by MoD, to risks to their health, safety and welfare. Those risks manifested themselves in a lack of a safe system of work.

Man loses leg due to concrete block falling from forklift truck. Company fined £300.000.

Buchan Concrete Solutions Ltd., a producer of concrete blocks was fined £300,000 after an employee had to have a leg amputated.

The circumstances were:

• On 30 June 2015,  large concrete blocks were being unloaded onto the outside yard area of Buchan's site.
• The unloading operation was not properly planned, 
• The forklift truck’s weight capacity of five tonnes was not enough to be able to cope with the weight of the blocks. 
• There was no system of work to excluded people from being in the vicinity while the concrete blocks were being lifted.
• The man was removing wooden struts that the concrete blocks had been resting on, while the concrete blocks were unloaded by a forklift. 
• One of the blocks slipped off from the forklift, and fell onto the worker.
• He was taken to hospital for treatment to serious crush injuries to one of his legs. The leg was eventually amputated from the shin down.

The HSE inspector said: “The injured man suffered life-changing injuries. This incident was entirely avoidable, had the lifting operations been properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner.”

Only one more certification to our century

The auditor's recommendation for certification to ISO 9001:2015 for a roll printing company this week was our 99th certification to 9001, 14001 or 18001 standards.  These were spread over 62 companies.  

March will see another certification which will make our century.

Then there are 40 FSC and 39 PEFC certifications plus others, such as ISO 13485.

Strategic Safety Systems have provided health, safety, environmental or quality services for over 300 companies in the Printing Industry over the last 20 years.  This was our 10th roll printing company and our familiarity with their operations smoothed the process considerably.  But we cover many other industries.

All of the certifications use the SSS standard of simplified systems which are implementation-focused, rather than being thick, wordy documents one normally associates with ISO certifications.  Both the user companies and external auditors find them so easy to follow.  Because of this reputation, SSS are often approached to simplify unworkable systems created by other organisations.