Crushing guidance

The UK’s National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC) has issued a new guidance document to all its members concerning the use of mobile crushing plant in the demolition role. Previous guidance issued by the Health and Safety Executive in the UK was more geared towards the use of this equipment in quarrying applications and, in the NFDC’s view, did not necessarily take account of the environment to be found on typical demolition sites.

According to NFDC chief executive Howard Button: “we welcomed the HSE’s initial guidance notes and we generally supported them when they implemented the rules and served some demolition sites with prohibition notices when they found operatives on crushers while they were working. However, we were also extremely conscious the HSE guidance had been written largely in response to injuries and fatalities in quarry applications and that some of the recommendations would prove difficult or impossible to adhere to within a demolition environment. That is when we decided to produce our own demolition specific version.”

Produced in close cooperation with Associate Member equipment manufacturer Sandvik, the 16 page document outlines the key risks faced when using this equipment type and lays down best practice during feeding and blockage clearing and other facets of this equipment’s transport, set up and use.

A key finding of the NFDC document confirms the HSE’s stance that no operators should stand on the crusher deck while the machine is running. Sandvik’s global product line director, one of the joint authors of the notes, said: “A properly designed mobile crushing operation should not need any person to be present on the crusher access platform during normal crushing operations.”

For further information on the guidance notes and other NFDC publications, go to www.demolition-nfdc.com.