How to prevent injuries around earth moving equipment

Many businesses rely on the use of earth moving equipment in their day to day work. When it comes to dealing with earth moving equipment, the most important thing is to ensure the safety of you and your employees. This means that proper care and maintenance of the machinery is essential. Today, we’ll be looking at how you can prevent injuries when working around earth moving equipment.

Put proper safety guidelines in place

Working around heavy and difficult to handle machinery can be dangerous which is why you need to have appropriate occupational health and safety procedures in place. Just some of the issues you need to consider when it comes to safety guidelines include:

• Blind spots
• Communication
• Loading and unloading equipment
• Load limits
• Mounting and dismounting
• Overhead and unground hazards

It’s important that you and your employees know your limits and that you speak up if you’re asked to perform a task you don’t feel comfortable doing. Always be mindful of hazards in the workplace and do regular inspections of the work site to keep an eye out for potential dangers when using earth moving equipment.

Have adequate training for employees

Prevention is better than cure when it comes to employee safety and the best thing you can do to avoid workplace injuries around earth moving equipment is to make sure employees are well informed about safety procedures. Make sure all employees are up to date with safety guidelines and keep up to date with training as it becomes available.

Keep on top of general maintenance

While servicing and fault diagnosis should be left to the professionals, you need to keep on top of maintenance for your earth moving equipment. Ensure that your equipment is well lubricated to prevent wear and tear and eventual failure of moving parts. Always use the lubrication recommended by the machine manufacturer and follow instructions closely.

Inspect your equipment on a regular basis and keep a checklist of everything that should be regularly maintained. This includes items such as gaskets, seals, belts and bolts. Any broken or damaged parts should be dealt with immediately. Also, keep your equipment as clean as possible and free of dirt and grime. General maintenance prevents malfunctions which could lead to injuries.

Organise regular servicing

To ensure that your earth moving equipment is running safety and efficiently, it’s essential that you keep up proper maintenance through a qualified diesel mechanic. Regular servicing prevents hydraulic system breakdowns and other issues which can compromise the safety of your equipment. Don’t wait until something goes wrong before you call on your mechanic – always keep services up to date.

At Perth based Diesel West Mechanical Services, we provide convenient mobile servicing for your mobile machinery and vehicles. We provide assistance with hydraulic system breakdowns and provide our qualified diesel mechanics provide expert fault diagnosis and repairs. We service the Perth metro area and some regional areas on request.

For mobile servicing for your diesel machinery, contact Diesel West Mechanical Services today on 0427 501 378.