A “Good Catch” is a safety near miss or a close call – any unplanned event or unseen hazard that does not result in an injury, illness or damage but, had the potential to do so. We have decided to start a series posting Good Catches to our page to help others recognize and deal with situations that may lead to injury, illness or damage BEFORE it can happen.
A bucket crew inspected a work site to determine how to access a section of BC Hydro power line requiring clearing. Climbing the trees on site was not an option due to close proximity to the power line. The soft ground condition was noted and evidence of past rutting meant a high probability a bucket truck would require assistance leaving the site. One truck was backed into the site only as far as necessary to access the pruning/removal work. A second truck was on site to aid the first truck in extraction from site, if necessary. Help with extraction was necessary.
The required work was successfully completed at the site and as the bucket truck was preparing to leave the driver noticed an unusual movement coming from the rear end. The truck was parked and inspected. A large boulder was lodged between the dual rear driver’s side tires.
Numerous low impact attempts were made to remove the rock from the tires, with no success.
The last option was to use a sledge hammer to forcibly remove the rock from between the dual tires. After approximately 30 minutes of smashing the rock was dislodged.
The crew did a thorough inspection of all tires prior to driving on public roadways. No more rocks were found. Thank God.
Several best practices were followed in this “Good Call”:
- Always thoroughly inspect access to an off-road work site and formulate a plan for extraction BEFORE commencing work.
- Whenever possible, have a second truck on stand-by to aid in extraction.
- Always inspect your commercial vehicle after leaving any off-road surface. Check for rocks in the tires, cuts or abrasions in tires, broken parts (brake pods, steps, air tanks, etc).
- Ensure proper safety gear is work at all times, ie. when smashing a huge rock out from the duallies sharp bits and pieces fly everywhere.