Crush Injury Risk Awareness, Prevention and Minimisation in Load Shifting Operations

This article considers injuries related to crushing and methods of prevention and minimization of such injuries, particularly from the perspective of plant operations, where a crush injury occurs when the body or a body part is trapped, pinched or jammed under or between objects (Victoria State Government., 2020). A safe system of work, underpinned by worker awareness, should be implemented and maintained in all load shifting operations in order to minimize or prevent crush injury risks. Employers and workers should participate in inductions, safety meetings and consultation activities to ensure that they are aware of best practices to control crush hazards.

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/sshsr Social Science, Humanities and Sustainability Research Vol. 1, No. 2, 2020 include spinal damage and paralysis, internal organ damage, amputations, broken and crushed bones, head and drain injuries, muscle and tendon damage and nerve damage.

Hazards and General Prevention
Managing the health and safety risks involves a four-step risk management process: Identifying hazards; Assessing risks; Controlling risk; and, Reviewing the process. Risk identification includes finding out what could cause harm (Worksafe . Risk assessment requires recognising the extent of the damage that could be caused by the hazard, how extreme the harm could be and the probability of it occurring. Controlling risks requires implementing the most effective control measure that is reasonably practicable in the circumstances. Assessing control measures to ensure they are working as planned is the final step. The results of the review process will determine if any adjustments need to be made in the control measures applied.
Specific precautions are required for each kind of crush injury hazard, but some general tips apply.
When using machinery, accidents can occur at any time. Crush injury or amputation of the fingers or hands comprise most injuries (Strauss, 2016).
General safety includes: • Operators reading the relevant operations manual and manufacturer specifications and pay careful attention to the safety directives.
• Employers making sure that all workers on a particular piece of equipment understand how to operate it safely.
• Ensuring that safety features and not removed or modified. A significant element in crush accidents is the absence of safety guards. Fitting protection shields to cover all moving parts, such as belts and pulleys, where practicable, can reduce the likelihood of these injuries.
• Regularly maintaining and checking your machinery. Strauss (2016) notes that accidents, including crush injuries, are more common if the equipment is old.
• Ensure that clothing such as sleeves and pant legs are not loose or flapping and are unlikely to get entangled in a machine's moving parts. Likewise, Hair should also be tied up.
• Not taking shortcuts. For example, taking the time to switch off and isolate machinery prior to undertaking any adjustments.
Hands are often the part of the body closest to a hazard, and most research advises the selection and use of gloves as the primary risk management for avoiding hand injuries which is however, the least desirable control option (Queensland Government, 2020

Crush Injury Prevention in Mobile Plant Operations
When a worker places themselves between the moving load/crane jib and another hard surface, swings the jib over the operator's station while operating a Vehicle Loading Crane or stands between a load being positioned and another hard surface such as a tray truck, they effectively create a crush zone (Australian Rail Track Corporation, 2020 (2020)  Liebherr (2011) identify a range of hazards that present a risk of crush injury, including: • Crane carrier is not driven in a safe manner • Exceeding axle load limit resulting in reduced braking performance 82 • Operator to visually confirm no persons are in danger zone • Operator to exercise extreme caution when lifting load • When auxiliary winch in use, winch not to be used for lifting loads • All crane movements to be executed slowly and delicately • Guide ropes to be used to manage load and prevent swaying • A load meter is installed with an alarm system attached • Operators must not exceed relative working radius.
• Crane fitted with hoist limit switch • Function of hoist limit switch to be checked before every crane application.
• Anti 2 block to be fitted • Rated pull force of hoist gear must not be exceeded  Vol. 1, No. 2, 2020 Specifically related to EWP crush injury prevention, Hinz (2019) refers to Worksafe Victoria recommendations for boom type EWP risk control measures. These include the use of physical barriers attached to the basket or platform, pressure sensing devices mounted over the control panel that can detect possible crush accidents and avoid more dangerous movement of the machine, and proximity sensing devices that prevent the EWP basket or platform from manoeuvring within crushing proximity of structures. Control measures for Scissor type EWP can involve the application of a "Lower before travel" policy that specifies that the device must be completely lowered before any movement, thereby fully clearing operators and passengers from any overhead structures before travelling, and driving EWP scissor lift units using the external control (where fitted to the unit) while travelling via doorways or through areas with overhead structures.

Managing Crush Injuries
The treatment of crush syndrome should concentrate on avoiding the syndrome's systemic complications and Understanding the pathophysiology of the process and treating it accordingly is essential Banerjee (2020). As the time of entrapment of a limb is directly proportional to the development of crush syndrome, extrication should be prompt. Banerjee (2020) advises that basic life support measures should commence with assessment of airway, breathing and circulation, especially establishment of intravenous access. If possible, fluid resuscitation, especially in limbs trapped for longer than 4 hours, should be initiated prior to extrication. The risk of concomitant injury (fractures, organ damage, spinal injury and apparent haemorrhage) should also be of concern. High-flow oxygen should be initiated and the patient should be moved as soon as possible to a medical facility.

Crush Injury Awareness
Employers and training providers can increase crush injury awareness by ensuring hazard awareness and control measures are front of mind for workers responsible for load shifting. Ensuring worker safety means creating a safe effective, positive workplace where productivity can be focused on by employees. In order to insure a safe workplace, contact and involvement between the employer and the employee in relation to safety and health concerns in the workplace are central. Communications should include training workers to handle specific situations using the proper procedures and involvement in hazard identification, risk assessment, risk controls and review of the process.
Worker awareness may take place on-site by holding inductions and toolbox discussions, or off-site by submitting on-line information and asking for feedback; or by using telephone hook-ups. Consultation may also take place by employers talking to subcontractors and asking them to share information with the employees of the subcontractor and pass on any suggestions to the employees.
Managers, workers and subcontractors can use toolbox talks or pre-start meetings to provide information and gain input from employees, as well as to help raise awareness of particular risks. It is considered best practise when using toolbox talks to keep a record of the subject discussed, participants and any input obtained and to track the effectiveness of toolbox talks by safety results such as control 86 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/sshsr Social Science, Humanities and Sustainability Research Vol. 1, No. 2, 2020 measures implemented and near misses noted. This information sharing processes is conducive to the development of safe systems of work.
In order to collect feedback and ensure toolbox participants keep crush injury hazards in mind, a simple feedback "quiz" could be utilised. Two basic toolbox talk quizzes follow as examples.  (a) True

Conclusion
As condoned by Safety Matters Weekly (2020), there are a number of strategies that should be applied for controlling crushing hazards including use of guarding, blocking and securing objects and increasing awareness of pinning hazards. Employers and workers must ensure gauds are used to prevent access resulting in injuries, deaths, and amputations. Removal of guards must be prohibited whilst machinery is in use. Guards must also be engineered in such a manner that workers can not become caught between the equipment and the guard. An effective lockout/tagout system helps to ensure that all sources of potentially harmful energy can be detected and efficiently regulated by employees. Raised equipment should be well supported so it cannot fall and equipment should not be parked or stored in a raised position. Employees should make sure excavator booms, buckets, forklift forks, and other elevating equipment are lowered when not in use. Finally, workers must be aware of mobile equipment in their work area, and ensure that they are never between moving equipment, such as forklifts, and immovable structures, other vehicles, or stacked materials. This exclusion can be supported by restricting traffic in the work area so only essential personnel are present and provision of separate pedestrian and vehicle traffic as much as possible. All of these control measures are underpinned by employers ensuring their workers are trained to identify areas where crushing hazards exist and the control measures they can apply.