Construction giant Skanska responds to site death by banning semi-automatic couplers.
In a move akin to banning cars because drivers don’t always fasten their seat belts, construction giant Skanska has banned the use of semi-automatic quick hitches on its UK sites. According to UK construction magazine Construction News, the decision was reached following investigations into an accident on a Skanska UK Skanska/Grantrail Docklands Light Railway site in December last year, when a bucket became detached from an excavator and struck 58-year-old carpenter Harold Sheridan, resulting in fatal injuries.
Full story here.
The subject of semi-automatic quick hitches is one that we have covered extensively here on www.demolitionnews.com and, while we embrace any decision designed to make the industry a safer place, we cannot help but think that this is a knee-jerk reaction against an inherently safe product that, sadly, is often used incorrectly.
