In February 2019, a 13-tonne 360 excavator with a hydraulic breaker attached to an automatic quick hitch was breaking out ground. The breaker detached unintentionally from the quick hitch and landed on a worker in the vicinity, landing on their foot, which resulted in their right leg needed to be amputated below knee level. The HSE investigation found that the employer had not set up an exclusion zone in the working area and that there were no marshallers present to ensure the excavator was isolated before others could enter the work zone. There was also no dedicated attachment changing area. The company was fined £34,000 and ordered to pay £1,935.84 in costs.
The HSE commented that “This incident could have easily resulted in a fatality and could have been avoided by simply carrying out correct control measures and safe working practices. There should be suitable, defined safe systems of work so that persons who need to work in close proximity to excavators can do so safely.” Despite improved equipment and methods of working, unintentional detachment of equipment using quick-hitch couplers still occur.
The Construction Industry Plant Safety Group have produced a good guidance practice for the safe use of quick hitches on excavators and a good practice guidance on reducing unintentional movement of plant, which outlines the need for exclusion zones and appropriate control measures. Both publications can be downloaded free of charge from the Construction Industry Plant Safety Group publications page in the Publications section of this website.
