Drumming Plant Incident Oct 13 2008
When the land based pump at a drumming facility failed, our customer was full of praise for the teamwork and professionalism shown by Suttons in general and by the driver in particular in managing this situation safely without significant disruption to service.
This incident clearly demonstrates that by using the Near Miss system to highlight safety concerns we can firstly safeguard our staff and others and secondly enhance our reputation as a safe and professional operator. This case study also shows that nothing is so important that we can’t find a way of doing it safely.
When the drumming plant pump failed and site personnel suggested that our drivers discharge the highly flammable cargo by using their vehicle compressors, our drivers had two concerns:
1) Pressurising highly flammable liquids may raise the temperature to a dangerous level.
2) After delivery, residual flammable vapour is vented to atmosphere at the perimeter of
the site, adjacent to a public road.
Two drivers rightly raised Near Miss Reports to voice their concerns and immediately called
their supervisors before proceeding with deliveries.
After consulting with our customer and the site management it became apparent that the land based pump would not be back on line for several days. The customer, whilst not wanting to compromise safety, was concerned that the importance of meeting the required delivery schedule would not allow us to wait for repair of the pump.
It was decided that the Suttons Health & Safety Manager, a representative of the customer, and the site management would meet to discuss different options. This took place in the presence of a driver.
With all parties in attendance our driver politely but clearly explained his concerns with the proposed plan. An alternative plan was devised, using tankers with an onboard cargo pump to deliver the 3 remaining consignments of the campaign. The driver would remain at the pump controls to regulate the speed, and on signals from the drumming operator, put the pump into neutral as the automatically closing lines were changed from full to empty drums. Before loading the tanks, the depot management ensured pumps were clean and pressure tested to 6 bar.
The first delivery commenced without issue. Then as the plant’s Drumming Operator withdrew
the filling lance from a completed drum, a splash of product from the filling aperture hit the
Operator in the eye. A second Operator started to apply an eyewash bottle. Our driver, seeing
that the eyewash was being incorrectly applied, took over. He tipped back the Operator’s head
and instructed him to blink as the eye was washed. The site management was informed and
our driver reported the accident to his supervisor.
The customer was informed and the Suttons Health & Safety Manager called. As all parties
were worried that the change to normal procedures may have contributed to the accident he
attended site immediately. Investigation revealed that the cause of the accident was a known fault with the drumming lance rather than the discharge method, and that similar incidents had occurred previously under normal conditions. The Operator’s PPE was upgraded from safety specs to goggles and, after the tanker cargo pump method had been checked for safe operation several times, our driver and the other parties were satisfied that delivery could safely continue.
During the course of the delivery our driver and the site operators formed into an effective team developing a system of hand signals to dictate pump operation. Although understandably unnerved by the injury to the site Operator, our driver felt he was now confident with the operation and working well with the site staff. He volunteered to change his work schedule to cover the next load in order to keep the team together. The subsequent loads were delivered without incident and the site is now operating normally.
