HSENI announces quarry inspection initiative
Inspection initiative to focus on machinery guarding, safe isolation, and maintenance procedures
THE Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) is to carry out an inspection initiative focusing on machinery guarding, safe isolation, and maintenance procedures across Northern Ireland quarries from 11 December through January 2024.
HSENI inspectors will be visiting quarries to ensure that machinery is adequately guarded to prevent access to dangerous parts. Inspectors will be checking that operators have adequate procedures in place for safe isolation and lock-out of equipment, and reviewing the measures in place to ensure both routine and non-routine maintenance can be carried out safely.
Speaking on the upcoming campaign, HSENI Principal Inspector Brian Pryce said: ‘Machinery guarding, isolation, and maintenance activities remain a major risk for the sector. Our key message is to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery, and to develop, implement, and supervise appropriate procedures for carrying out maintenance (ie isolation and lockout).
‘Our Inspectors will be checking that adequate arrangements are in place to guard dangerous moving parts of work equipment, and that suitable procedures are in place to safely complete both routine and non-routine maintenance.’
HSENI Inspectors will be providing information and advice during the inspection initiative but, where significant risks are found, may take enforcement action to achieve compliance with health and safety legislation and to ensure that the risks are properly managed.
The inspection pro-forma which will be used by Inspectors during these inspections can be found at: www.hseni.gov.uk/publications/inspection-proforma-quarries
Practical guidance on how to ensure the safe use of work equipment on site can be found in L22 - ‘Safe use of work equipment’.
Operators are further directed to the following HSENI Information Sheet: HSENI Information Sheet - Guarding Return Idlers.
