Causes of the incident

1. Safety Alert No. 03 Jan 99 Committed to Safety Crane Lifting Hazards • Background • A serious near miss incident happened recently at the front entrance of the Saih Al Maleh building (new MAF office). A mobile crane was observed lifting two sections of the board room table from the balcony on the 3rd floor without the necessary barriers and warning signs in place. It was also reported that people were entering and leaving the building unhindered whilst the table sections were being prepared for lifting on the edge of the balcony. No one stopped the hazardous work. • Causes of the incident • The Job Safety Plan covered the hazards related to the lifting operation itself, however, the Contractor failed to identify and put in place all the necessary controls (physical barriers, warning signs) for the surrounding environment prior to and during the lifting operation. • Actions to Prevent Recurrence • In order to prevent recurrence of the above type of incident, the following actions shall be • undertaken for each lifting operation: • Job Safety Plan to include the hazards and associated controls related to handling activities, as per Worksite Hazard Information Management System (WHIMS). • Relevant toolbox talks shall be held by each work team at individual work sites before commencement of the day’s activities. These shall concentrate on the risks of the work to be undertaken including the precautions necessary to contain the possible hazards specifically towards others not involved in the operation. • Empowerment to stop unsafe work has to be explained, developed and tested among PDO and Contractor’s labor force to ensure each employee is committed to STOP UNSAFE WORK. • __________________