Accident and death at an ink factory in NSW

[Roverlord off road spares]

I used to do confined space entry at an ink plant in Vic ,and had to be ticketed for it.
I can only feel for these workers.
Crawling into a small access holes into tanks. Dodging mixing blades. I also used to crawl into Kettles that boiled varnish thorough a small access hole.
But safety was priority number 1. All electrical had to be off, locked and tagged and 3 of us would confirm the shut down and lock out was confirmed and signed off before we entrered. When your insdie these vessels and you see the blades and agitators you pray you never want to be inside if they started up. Some thing horribly went wrong on this incident.
One dead, two rescued after being trapped in ink vat in Sydney's west (http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/two-men-trapped-in-a-tank-in-sydneys-west-20171206-h00b5l.html)

No Cookies | Daily Telegraph (https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/two-men-trapped-fighting-for-life-after-worksite-accident-at-auburn/news-story/87bd68d4413cc1b3a0ffb4192b773f1f?nk=b0f3bdddf04798 cc7d2125ff44048e2c-1512625841)

[Chops]

So sad this. Workplace injuries theoretically I guess, should never happen, but then thats why they are called accidents. No doubt there will be a massive inquest in to it all to find out why. Hopefully they will find the answers so it can never happen again.

Many years ago, I was in a large mixing vat that had an auger running along the bottom of it. Even though it was all "locked off", somehow, the auger turned on whilst I was inside on the ladder,, if it hadn't been for workmates being able to grab the ladder and my arm, I suspect I could have had a very different life now,, if indeed I had survived. The ladder certainly didn't.

Workplace accidents can be horrendous to those around the scene. I can remember my workmates who rescued me,,, it was hard to work out which of us was actually in the firing line so to speak. Then afterwards, the anger between us all about the whole incident.


I went to the inquest of my best mate who was killed some 30 odd years ago. It was discovered that a $900 ram which was supposed to have been replaced earlier was to blame, (bent shaft). It was hard because they gave exact detail of the whole event. His young wife who I accompanied there, along with some of his immediate family, was basically in melt down mode.

[weeds]

Sad day without a doubt.....chops your right be good if deaths never happen but sadly they will. I believe the frequency is dropping but will we get to zero workplace deaths??? Nope....

I do feel for the family, workers and emergency services involved.

Massive inquest???? all good and well but one they take too long and secondly when the findings are release they are generally poorly communicated with industry.

You only have to attend Confined Space or Working @ Heights courses to see the outdated examples or outcomes from major accidents. It’s not hard to find example of unsafe workplace acts driving around Brisbane, when my wife worked as a trainer in heights I used to send her pics weekly so she had recent relevant examples.

Listening to the emergency services being interviewed they have indicated a paddle/mixer moved....if thats anywhere near an accurate report than the root cause is a poor isolation plan, be surprised if it isn’t the main contributor..

Heard on the radio just the other day about the deaths in the workplace and the farming industry is the highest.

What each of us can do out of this incident is have the discussion with your team today or tomorrow, no need to wait for an inquiry. Just discussing a death hopefully gets the cogs turning.

[Roverlord off road spares]

Sad day without a doubt.....chops your right be good if deaths never happen but sadly they will. I believe the frequency is dropping but will we get to zero workplace deaths??? Nope....

I do feel for the family, workers and emergency services involved.

Massive inquest???? all good and well but one they take too long and secondly when the findings are release they are generally poorly communicated with industry.

You only have to attend Confined Space or Working @ Heights courses to see the outdated examples or outcomes from major accidents. It’s not hard to find example of unsafe workplace acts driving around Brisbane, when my wife worked as a trainer in heights I used to send her pics weekly so she had recent relevant examples.

Listening to the emergency services being interviewed they have indicated a paddle/mixer moved....if thats anywhere near an accurate report than the root cause is a poor isolation plan, be surprised if it isn’t the main contributor..

Heard on the radio just the other day about the deaths in the workplace and the farming industry is the highest.

What each of us can do out of this incident is have the discussion with your team today or tomorrow, no need to wait for an inquiry. Just discussing a death hopefully gets the cogs turning.

Even worse is it's right on Christmas time so what is supposed to be a joyous occasion some have had their lives turned around. maybe production rush before close down or something, lets not speculate though
Yes isolation is very important. I had a co worker who i found inside a caged machine ( an ink mixer) like a big pan with 2 cake mixer like paddles. He has cleaning the paddles for a colour change, The machine has a wired door with a trip switch that switched off the motor whilst the door was open. The rules were to switch off the main board switch, padlock and tag it and place the key in the office away from the machine.
He was taking shortcuts, all it needed for some one to shut the door passing and he would be inside the cage with a live machine) It was just taking short cuts to save a few minutes of time. Even worse was that he was the afternoon shift 2 I.C

[weeds]

Man o Man.....why did the third worker enter? This is covered in basic first aid training than alone confined space.

Ink vat victim trapped by mixing blade - Daily Telegraphhttps://apple.news/AH2FeSF6WSxCYuhcfECRGTA

[Hall]

Certainly a break down in the isolation procedure some where. Another factor to consider is the old saying familiarity breeds contempt. Or done the task so many times that things start to be over looked. I have had a confined space ticket and have done some pretty tight confined space work. Been on my back and could not roll over because the space was so tight, changing knives on a printing machine is one that comes to mind. At least where I am now working they seem to be on top of safety.
Cheers Hall