Page 1189 - Xmo Strata - Bulletin Archive

Health, Safety & Environmental Bulletin No 445

8 January 2015

Mechanical LOTO Incident

Following our recent bulletin on Mechanical LOTO (see bulletin 441 http://xmostrata.com/mechanical-hazard-
loto/) we received the following feedback from Geoff Oldham, Chairman of SureSite Group.

We would like to thank Geoff for this feedback and providing an example of a non-electrical LOTO incident.

Remember the Lock-Out-Tag-Out is not just for electrical circuits, the hazards also may be mechanical,
pneumatic, or hydraulic etc.

"Last week there was an incident on a Service Station where an employee became trapped in the walk in freezer
for a prolonged period. Although taken to hospital, he appears thankfully to have made a full recovery. We have
investigated the incident and can advise the following:

Latch Release

The latch system was functioning as designed and is a standard mechanism used throughout the UK on cold store
operations. However, the method to release the lock is not intuitive in our opinion and having spoken with the
suppliers of this equipment, we are now advised that we should have completed induction training on how to use
the release mechanism.

To release the door from the inside, you need to grip the backing handle of the lock and then depress the green
rubber button. By gripping the back of the handle there is no pressure on the door. If you only press the button it
applies pressure to the door against the latch and it seems that the mechanism is faulty and will not release.

We should add that the doors to the walk-in freezer / Chillers should be left open when staff are inside. If the
doors self-close then we will arrange a system to stop this occurring.

Lighting

The lights were functioning correctly and were on at the time of the incident and were in fact updated in
September to LED. I have asked our contractor to ensure that there are two LED light fittings installed in each
compartment and that these are permanently on and not switched via light sensor.

Emergency Call

As a secondary precaution, the contractor will install an emergency pull cord in all walk-in freezers this week
linked to a visible and audible beacon in immediate proximity to the main sales counter. These beacons are to be
clearly marked up as to what they relate too.

Clothing

An overcoat and gloves are to be provided for staff entering the freezer.

The environment within a freezer in particular is extremely hostile and as such procedures and precautions must
be followed to ensure that we minimise risk to all stakeholders."