Engcon raise the bar on safety

Company switching entirely to its safe, proprietary Q-Safe quick-hitch system as standard

ENGCON say they are now setting the benchmark for operator and on-site safety and highlighting their commitment to ensuring the safest working environment for their customers by supplying their innovative Q-Safe (QS) quick-hitches as standard.

The move by the specialist tiltrotator manufacturer means the company will no longer offer the older industry-standard S-type quick-hitches in sizes S45–S80, which date back to the 1980s.

The new QS quick-hitches are backward compatible with the Scandinavian ‘S’ geometry and will still pick up attachments using this standard, but crucially will connect hydraulic and electrical power automatically from an excavator to its tools and attachments using Engcon’s EC-Oil system.

‘We’re constantly hearing tragic news about people injured or even killed due to unsafe quick-hitches and incorrect operation. I think this is unacceptable, so I’ve taken the decision to switch entirely to our own safety hitch and locking system,’ said Engcon’s founder, Stig Engström.

Engcon’s QS quick-hitches and QSC locking system eliminate the potential for human error that can occur when attaching or detaching buckets and other tools and attachments. Because the bucket’s axles are independently detected by electronic sensors, swinging or half-connected buckets are not possible.

Moreover, ground-pressure sensing further eliminates the possibility of operator error by requiring the attachment to be grounded before the hitch can be opened, and it is also possible to disable the digger’s boom and slew functions when the hitch is in an unsafe state.

As well as preventing operator error or misuse, the system also has boom-mounted audible and visible alarms to warn nearby operatives when attachments are being changed or the hitch is in an unsafe state.

‘This is part of our safety initiative and zero-tolerance for swinging or dropped buckets,’ said Mr Engström. ‘Q-Safe is one of the safest hitches in the world, and using it to replace the old, much less safe S-type hitches is a natural step for us.’

The growth in the use of hydraulic attachments at job sites has led the company to make its market-leading EC-Oil automatic hydraulic connection system a standard fitting on installations using the DC2 control system.

This means that operators using the company’s tiltrotators on diggers from 6 tonnes upwards can change hydraulic tools without ever having to leave the cab – making the job site even safer.

‘Automatic quick-hitches are now our standard and, thanks to their safety functions, I can confidently say we have the market’s safest, smartest quick-hitch system,’ said Mr Engström.