Kerbs, a Quick Coupler and a Live Footpath

Why it must stop now:

• It is an unplanned lifting operation. No lift plan, no appointed person involved, no consideration of load weight, radius or capacity.
• The operator is experienced on the machine but not trained or competent as a slinger/signaller, and the slinger is untrained too. Experience on a machine is not competence in lifting operations.
• The load is being lifted over a live footpath with pedestrians underneath. Lifting over people is not acceptable; the 1.2 m gap between hoarding and load path means the public is inside the danger zone.
• The sling is on the bucket teeth. Teeth are wear parts, not certified lifting points, and a chain can slip off a tooth under load.
• The quick coupler is defective - the retaining pin is missing.
• 35 km/h gusts on a 480 kg bundle with a large sail area make the load hard to control.
• There is no exclusion zone and no signed diversion.

Before restarting: the appointed person plans the lift and confirms the machine's capacity at the required radius from the load chart (mini-excavator capacity falls steeply with reach), certified lifting points are used, a trained slinger/signaller and banksman are in place, a physical exclusion zone is set with barriers and a signed diversion, the coupler is repaired with the correct manufacturer's pin, and the lift is rescheduled or relocated so nothing passes over people.

Semi-automatic quick couplers hold the bucket with a locking mechanism and rely on a retaining pin as part of the securing arrangement. With the pin missing, the attachment is held only by the spring clip, which is not designed as a primary lock - it is there to stop the pin walking out, not to carry load. Vibration, load reversal as the bundle swings, and the shock of setting it down can all work a spring clip loose or allow the locking mechanism to creep. The failure mode is sudden and total: the bucket, the sling and 480 kg of kerbs release together.

Why 'it's only kerbs' fails as reasoning: the operator is comparing the load to something heavier he has handled, but the standard is not relative. A 480 kg bundle dropped from any height onto a footpath kills. The weight is well above what a person can survive, and the drop zone includes members of the public who have no control over the risk.

What should happen: the machine comes out of service, the correct retaining pin is fitted and the coupler inspected as the manufacturer requires, the check is recorded, and the operator is briefed that the visual confirmation of locking before every attachment change is not optional. A missing safety pin is a defect, not a preference.

What is wrong: a stop/go board manages movement; it does not create a safe zone. The pedestrians are held in a 1.2 m channel between the hoarding and the trench, directly beneath the lift path, so if the load or the sling fails there is nowhere to go. The banksman is also standing in the same area. The diversion sign lying flat in the trench means the diversion is not actually in place, so the arrangement on the ground does not match what was planned and approved.

What must be done:

• Take the lift away from the footpath, or take the footpath away from the lift. Lifting over live pedestrians should simply not happen.
• If the footpath must be closed, install a signed diversion, physically in place and legible, before the lift starts, and secure it with barriers - not cones that get knocked aside. Closing a public footpath normally requires the road authority's agreement, so this is a decision above the banksman's level.
• Provide a properly separated pedestrian route, or stop pedestrians at a point that is outside the fall zone, not underneath it.
• Give the banksman clear authority to stop the job, and make sure the exclusion zone is marked and enforced, including for site workers who are used to walking through.

Check whether the route is used by children on a school run; that changes the timing and the level of control required.