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Lanyard plastic cover snags on the side of a lift car during descent

  • What happened?

    A technician was sending a lift down to pick up a worker. The lift was being operated from an externally mounted lift controller.

    As the lift started to go down, a loose rope from the technician’s working at height personal protective equipment (PPE) became attached to the lift car.

    He was unable to stop the lift as the controls were out of reach.

    The rope remained attached to the lift car for 4 seconds until it worked itself free.

    The technician was not injured, but there was potential for serious injury.

    Whilst reviewing the design to improve operations on site, an operational restriction was placed on all lifts of this design being sent down via the external control panel.

    Area where the plastic lanyard cover snagged on the edge of the panel when the lift car started descending
  • Why did it happen?

    The technician’s PPE was loose and caught on the lift car.

    An empty lift car cannot be called down, it can only be sent down from using the external lift mounted controller or operated by a lift passenger.

    Externally mounted lift controls
  • What did they learn?

    All loose equipment should be correctly restrained to minimise the risk of entanglement.

    Only trained personnel should operate lifts and in accordance with the manufacturers’ procedures.

    Consider a design review of the lifts to improve their operation.

    What learn - icon
  • Ask yourself or your crew

    What checks do you carry out before starting work? How do you know your PPE is correctly restrained around your body?

    Are you fully trained to carry out your tasks and activities surrounding your tasks such as using the lifts? If you need training or a refresher, who do you talk to?

    How can we improve the design of lift controls on site?

    What measures do we have to prevent similar incidents on our site?

    Ask your crew - icon
Published on 21/07/20 2456 Views

A technician was using an externally mounted lift controller to send down a lift. As the lift started to go down, a rope from his personal protective equipment (PPE) became attached to the lift car. The worker was unable to stop the lift, but the rope worked itself free.