Health & safety bulletin
Incident Alert
20th March 2008
On 28th February, one of our re-branding teams was carrying out a routine operation at a BP site in Cheshire. As part of the re-branding process, it was necessary to remove the chain link fence fixed to the car wash building to gain access for the scissor lift. The chain was padlocked and the key was inaccessible, therefore it was necessary to remove the wall mounted bracket.
The incident occurred at the end of the day, when the bracket was being re-fixed to the car wash building before leaving site. See pictures below:-
The installer was holding the bracket in position and held a tek screw up to the bracket to fix it. The direction of the tek gun was in the forward position as he pressed the trigger and the tek screw started to turn into the masonry. Then it started to tighten more than he felt it should, and wasn't right, so he reversed the drill to draw the screw back out again. As the screw was reversed enough to release the bracket from the wall, the installer took the bracket away from the wall and held it in his hand, but the screw was still halfway through the fixing hole in the bracket.
He was distracted by someone who sounded their horn, so he turned around to look at what was happening. It was an automatic reflex to change the direction of the drill to forward before drilling again and as he was holding the bracket steady in his hand, he put the drill bit over the tek screw and pulled the trigger. The screw moved forward again, rather than continuing to pull out, the screw was forced forward, further through the fixing hole, through his glove and into his hand. As a result, the installer found himself with a tek screw through one side of the flesh part between his index finger and thumb on his left hand, attaching the bracket to the inside of this hand.
This unfortunate incident necessitated an overnight stay in hospital along with an operation to remove the bolt. The installer's hand was checked for nerve/tendon damage and the incident was reported to the Health & Safety Executive.
Fortunately, the installer was able to return to work the following Monday and has no lasting damage.
Please take note of this incident; this installer is very good at his job, has 15 years experience, and has never had anything like this happen before; this sort of incident can happen to all of us if we have a lapse in concentration - don't let it happen to you!