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Health, Safety & Environmental Bulletin No 054

S Martin – 7 September 2007

Filling Station Accident in Italy

Please see below report of an incident that occurred on a site in Italy.

Incident with damage to equipment and potential serious injury to

worker – Lesson learnt

Site: PVF 0287, Motta Visconti, Italy Date 08-06-2007

GENERAL
On 08/06/2007 a Contractor was removing a light pole as it had been wrongly installed by Construction
on a third party property.
After removal of the pole with a truck mounted crane and before laying it down to ground, the pole fell
down hitting first the truck cabin and then the arm of an operator.

INVESTIGATION
Incident was jointly investigated by ABB and by contractor.
Partial simulations were conducted (and pictures taken) to better understand what happened and why.

WHAT’S HAPPENED?
The Contractor had first isolated the activity area, with posters and signaling cones.
Then the pole was electrically disconnected, and the crane truck positioned beside the pole.
Initially they proceeded using an harness but it slipped and didn't apply sufficient traction to pull out
the pole from its foundation.
The crane operator then decided to fasten the hook of the crane to the bee on the top of the pole.
In both cases, the hook was connected to the crane with a chain.
The connection between the hook and the bee was correctly done by the worker.
After having hooked the pole the operator moved the truck with mechanical platform, out of the action
of the crane.
After the pole had been removed, the crane proceeded to move it toward the stocking area.