Tank door crush injury near miss prompts WJA safety alert

An incident in which an operative was stuck on the neck by the rear door of a vacuumation tanker as it was being closed has prompted the Water Jetting Association to issue its latest safety alert.

The operative suffered a neck strain, but the incident could have caused a much more serious injury, resulting in the WJA calling it a crush incident near miss.

A two person team had just tipped some waste and cleaned the vacuumation tanker’s tank when the incident happened. One operative operated a control panel to close the tank door without having line of sight with his colleague.

WJA Technical Manager Gordon Taylor said: “Water jetting is often carried out in conjunction with vacuumation, which is why we wanted to issue this safety alert. In fact, the learning points are compatible with both processes.

“The main learning point is that during vacuumation, or water jetting operations, that involve two people, if line of sight is not maintained, operations must stop immediately, until the safe system of work can be restored.”

WJA Safety Alert 11 – Vacuumation Tanker Crush Incident Near Miss has been based on details of an incident first reported to Ausjet, Australia’s water jetting trade association.

View – WJA Safety Alert 11 – Vacuumation Tanker Crush Incident Near Miss

View – All WJA safety alerts