Pipeline Construction

 

If you work on a pipeline, you and your company must obey the OSHA safety and health regulations. OSHA recently visited a number of pipeline installation jobsites in a northern state. This Toolbox Talk discusses the results of those OSHA visits.

The contractor received willful and serious violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The citations were for: (1) inadequately guarded trenches, (2) improper operation and maintenance of pipelaying cranes, and (3) allowing unauthorized employees to ride machinery.

All of these activities are prohibited by the OSHA regulations.

Cave-in-protection

The common hazard found at most of the worksites was the lack of adequate cave-in protection for employees working in trenches five feet or more in depth.

Twenty-five American workers died in trenching-related cave-ins in 1998.

OSHA standards require that effective collapse protection be in place and in use before you enter a trench. The absence of such protection leaves workers exposed to being struck by and buried beneath tons of soil before they have a chance to react or escape.

Other trenching and shoring violations that were observed were: (1) water accumulating in a trench, (2) a trench lacked a ladder or other means of exit every 25 feet, and (3) removed dirt piles were placed too close to the edge of excavations.

Unauthorized modifications to heavy equipment

The boom of a pipelaying crane that was pulling the equipment sled fell, struck, and killed an employee riding on the sled. OSHA cited the company for making un authorized modifications to the pipelayer and allowing employees to ride the sled.

Other equipment problems that were cited were: (1) a custom-made lifting device had not been load-tested or had its load lifting capacity marked on the device, (2) damaged crane slings were in use, and (3) a sling was not marked with its load rating.

Jobsites are complicated and busy. It takes alert supervisors and employees, ones that know the OSHA regulations, can spot hazards, and are willing to correct those hazards, to make jobsites safe.

This information is provided by Assurance Agency https:www.assuranceagency.com