BSU warns of failure of Sunraysia style wheel rims

BuildSafe UAE's (BSU) weekly safety alert (No 81) highlighted a number of preventable incidents on site. It also warned of the failure of Sunraysia style wheel rim across a broad range of its products.

BSU noted that there have been a number of reported instances where these rims have been identified as either having visual cracks on inspection or having completely failed while the vehicle was being driven. The cracking starts on the inside of the rim and only becomes evident when it is removed and visually inspected or becomes evident from the outside.

Any vehicle fitted with Sunraysia style wheel rims that has not been inspected in the past month should be inspected immediately, BSU warned. Vehicles currently fitted with Sunraysia style wheel rims should be replaced (including the spare wheel) with a genuine rim supplied by the vehicle manufacturer and the maximum tyre width that can be legally fitted.

Vehicles should not be acquired or retrofitted with Sunraysia style wheel rims until these failures are resolved, added the alert.

Meanwhile, a man was killed while engaging with his team in the task of depressurising a fire water line. The man had been asked by a foreman to wait for his mobile phone call before he could start removing the flange on the second floor. The pressure gauge for the test was located in the ground floor but there was not a secondary pressure gauge. Initial investigations reveal that the deceased tried to open the flange before he received the call from the foreman. In the process of removing the flange under pressure, he was struck on the forehead.

The contributing factors to the incident include ignoring the approved method statement and risk assessment, communication breakdown between the foreman and the deceased where reliance was solely placed on communication from the first floor and that the deceased was an electrician by trade among other serious factors.

In another recent incident, an operator was injured on his left knee when he came into contact with the rotating wheel of a drop saw machine. Investigations revealed that at the time of the incident, he was cutting channels and one of the cut pieces fell and knocked over his drinking water bottle, kept nearby. As he grabbed the bottle to retrieve it, his left knee came into contact with the rotating blade.

The situation could have been reduced if only skilled and competent persons were allowed to operate machinery, safety guards were ensured prior to commencing work on machines, a safe working distance was maintained by the operator while working and so on among other risk assessments.

During the inspection of a construction site where demolition was being undertaken, concerns were raised over the materials present in a number of the buildings.

A visual assessment of the ground where demolition had previously occurred visually identified significant amounts of badly damaged asbestos containing materials. Upon further investigation, asbestos materials were found with the stockpiled construction and demolition waste.

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