Emergency Procedures, Incident Response and Shutdown
Preparedness
Know before you need it: location of fire extinguishers, spill kit, first aid, emergency contacts, isolation points, and the site emergency plan. Reach stacker emergencies include fire (fuel/hydraulic), hydraulic injection injury, load drop, overturn, contact with power lines, and person struck.
Response principles
- Life safety first: raise the alarm, protect people, then property.
- Power lines: assume live; stay in the cab if safe, warn others away, do not touch the machine and ground simultaneously; follow the site's isolation procedure.
- Fire: isolate, evacuate, use the correct extinguisher only if trained and safe.
- Hydraulic injection: a pinhole leak can inject fluid under skin - this is a medical emergency; seek immediate treatment and identify the fluid.
- Overturn: stay belted, brace, do not jump.
Shutdown and incident response
After any incident: make safe, preserve the scene, report and record, and do not return the machine to service until inspected. Shutdown procedure: lower attachment, apply park brake, neutral, isolate, remove key, chock where required.
Traps
Questions test whether you know not to move a machine in contact with lines, and that hydraulic injection is a medical emergency, not a minor cut.
Rule of thumb
Alarm, protect people, isolate, report - in that order.