Safety Issues Working with Heavy Equipment of the Fireline

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Safety Issues Working with Heavy Equipment of the
Fireline
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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• Since about 1940s Alberta has had
  approximately 5 major incidents involving heavy
  equipment while working on fires.

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• The first documented incident took place in May
  1943 on a fire north of Fort McMurray. The
  Forestry worker while working on the fire fell
  asleep in the fire trench on the fireguard where
  he could not be seen by the dozer operator and
  subsequently ran over him while working on the
  fire.

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• The second incident took place in July of 1970
  on the Thunder Lake Fire south west of Edson when
  a dozer working on a steep side hill constructing
  a fire guard at night started slide sideways
  down a slope and in a panic the operator jumped
  from the machine thinking it was going to tip
  over, only to have the machine roll over him and
  crushing his pelvis.

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• The third serious incident took place in 1998 on
  the Virginia Hills Fire, when a cat operator was
  attempting to attach the blade back on to his
  dozer, which had just been off loaded from a
  lowboy trailer. While attempting to re-attach the
  blade, it came free and fell back on the operator
  seriously injuring his pelvis.

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• The forth incident took place in August 1998
  on the Agnes Lake Fire when a skidder pulling a
  tank lost power and began to roll backwards down
  hill the operator panicked and attempted to jump
  from the machine and was subsequently run over by
  it.

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• The last known incident took place July 2003,
  At the time of the incident, a Model 450 Timber
  Jack skidder with a 500-gallon (1892 litre) water
  tank mounted on the back was being used for fire
  line support supplying water to firefighters
  working along the fireguard on steep terrain

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• The skidder was climbing a steep slope with a
  full load of water and had just reached a small
  bench or near level area, when the engine stalled
  and quit.

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• When that happened, the hydraulics failed as well
  as both the brake system and the parking brake
  the skidder the rolled backwards down the steep
  cat guard picking up speed as it went and after
  approximately 30 meters, it veered off to one
  side and rolled over several times knocking the
  tank off the rear mount when it struck a tree

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• Through this whole event, the operator, who was
  not wearing his seat belt, was in the cage/cab
  hanging on and being bounced around, and when the
  skidder finally came to rest it landed upright,
  partially on a road and helipad, with the
  operator semi conscious draped over the
  transmission

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• 1.    The main brake system, which is built into
  the 28000 series transmission and is
  hydraulically activated with pistons. The main
  brake system is an independent system designed to
  work with the engine running or shut off. If the
  engine quits, the skidder will loose its main
  hydraulics that controls the blade, steering, and
  its grapple if so equipped.

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• Inspection of the brake peddles shortly after the
  accident indicated that they could be pushed t to
  the floor. The Company, that owned the skidder,
  advised that due to a design problem with the
  main break system and service problems they had
  disconnected this system and plugged off the
  lines.

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• The parking brake system wasnt designed to stop
  a heavily loaded skidder, but instead to hold it
  in place once it was stopped. It requires daily
  inspection and adjustment of the cable to ensure
  that it is working properly

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Serious Incidents In Alberta

• In conclusion, believe the main contributing
  cause of the accident was due to driver
  inexperience and mechanical failure of the
  braking systems on the skidder.

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Serious Incidents In B.C.

• In 2003 B.C. experienced 2 similar accidents,
  which involved skidders with water tanks on the
  fireline.
• The first happened on the McGillvary Creek fire
  east of Kamloops during the 2nd week in August
  2003.

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Serious Incidents In B.C.

•      A skidder tank unit was traveling down a
  constructed fire guard (approx 30 slope).
•     - round tank on the back of older model line
  skidder
•     - the operator was young and relatively
  inexperienced
•     - the trail was very dry and dusty with
  large accumulations of silt obscuring obstacles.
•      - the blade on the skidder was not raised
  high enough to avoid these obstacles.
•      - the blade stuck a large rock embedded in
  the trail, which caused the machine to roll onto
  its side.
•      - during the inspection of the machine
  after the incident it was found that one of the
  struts for the canopy had been cracked.
•     - There was no injury to the operator (was
  wearing seatbelt)
•         

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Serious Incidents In B.C.

• The second incident happened on the
  McLure/Barriere fire north of Kamloops during the
  same time frame, however there are little or no
  details available on this accident

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Some Common Threads

• In reviewing the seven incidents we can see some
  common threads between all of them.
•           In 5 of the 7 incidents, operator
  training and inexperience came into play.
•           In 3 out of the 7, there was some kind
  of mechanical problem with various components on
  the machines involved with the incidents.
•           In 3 of the 7 incidents involved
  skidders with tanks mounted on the back and the
  tank itself in regards to shape or design, and
  tank placement may have contributed in part to
  the incident.

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Some Considerations

• The majority of problems and/or concerns
  from past incidents can be resolved through the
  current legislation under the Occupational Health
  and Safety Regulations and Code Part 19 deals
  Powered Mobile Equipment. This came into effect
  April 2004.

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Some Considerations

• In this section, there are provisions for
• -  Operator responsibilities which covers
  training and competency
• -  Visual inspections
• -  Dangerous movement
• -  Inspection and maintenance
• -  Starting engines
• -  Unattended equipment
• -  Lights, Windows and windshields, Other safety
  equipment, Warning signal, Guards and screens,
  Rollover protective structures, Equipment with
  rollover protection, Falling objects protective
  structures, Worker transportation, and Refueling

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Some Considerations

• Review current inspection criteria for all
  equipment taking into consideration skidders and
  other specialized or modified heavy equipment on
  contact for fire operations, as to inspection of
  all breaking systems, audit Inspection and
  maintenance records, document operator/driver
  qualifications and training and ensure company
  has SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) in place
  covering all aspects of their equipments
  operation.

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Some Considerations

• 1.      Ensure that operator/driver have attended
  the fire orientation training course prior to
  being sent out to any fire. This should be done
  prior to the equipment actually being dispatched
  to the fire.

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Some Considerations

• Look into working with private industry and
  develop a workshop for equipment operators
  dealing with fire operations and safety
  considerations during active fire operations,
  line construction, safety hazards, mop up
  situations, and reclamation operations. To
  introduce operators with little or no experience
  to some of the situations they would facing out
  on the fire

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Some Considerations

• Put a moratorium on using skidders with tanks
  mounted on the rear in steep terrain that
• -  Block the drivers view preventing him from
  backing up safely
• -  Use a tank design with no baffles
• -  Where there is no information regarding center
  of balance and proper mounting of the tank to
  ensure it does not effect the performance of the
  of the skidder on slopes

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Some Considerations

• Develop a field checklist(s) for safe operations,
  which can be used on various projects to ensure
  that safe work practices are been followed

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Some Considerations

•     Ensure ground crews and other personnel
  and fully briefed as to the safety limitations
  when working around heavy equipment such as
  dozers and safe practices while transporting
  personnel and equipment.

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The End

• Any questions???