Safety No.

02
Committed to Alert Jan 99
Safety

Offloading Pipe Hazards

Background
An incident occurred recently in the interior, during the offloading of pipe bundles from a trailer using a crane.

The offloading included a lift of two bundles at a time. However, due to the bundle arrangement on the trailer, it was
necessary to lift one end each at a time to slide the sling underneath.

During this activity, one end of the load started to swing nudging a free bundle on the trailer. The free bundle started
to roll trapping the operators left foot causing a severe injury.

Causes of the incident

Direct cause:

At the start of the lift, the operator was still on the trailor and not out of the
way on the safe work platform, as required by the Supply Loading and
Unloading Instruction, the PDO Transport Operations Manual and the Road
Transport Safety Case.

The underlying cause of this incident:

Lack of pre-slinging and/or dunnage under the layers of the delivered pipe bundles on the trailer. This
situation led to additional and hazardous lifting operations required without any previous agreed plan or
risk assessment.

Actions to Prevent Recurrence

In order to prevent recurrence of the above type of incident, the following actions shall be undertaken:

HSE Standard Manual Chapter 9 (Lifting Operations requirements) shall be adhered to.

Job Safety Plan to include the hazards and associated controls related to handling activities, as per
Worksite Hazard Information Management System (WHIMS).

Toolbox talks relevant to the days action shall be held by each work team at individual work sites before
commencement of the days activities. These shall concentrate on the risks of the work to be undertaken
during that day including the precautions necessary to contain the potential hazards.

Work platforms/ladders shall be provided and used by operators prior to commencing any
lifting operation from a trailer in order to keep clear of the load motion area.

Stop work if a load arise to bring the work in a potential danger.

Empowerment to stop unsafe work has to be explained, developed and tested among PDO and
Contractors labor force to ensure each employee is committed to Stop Unsafe Work.