LABOUR INSPECTION IN STONE COMPANIES

Szczegóły

Opublikowano: czwartek, 25, październik 2012 15:00

Our industry, and for sure some companies from Lower Silesian Province, are going to be thoroughly examined by inspectors from the National Labour Inspectorate and from the Office of Technical Inspection. It is going to happen due to a tragic accident that took place on 11 January in a stone company located on the suburbs of Strzegom. A young man died in that accident. He was weighed down with a granite slab. Many serious negligence were found out in the company.

The victim ? at the moment when the accident occurred ? did not have a work contract and he was not secured by social insurances. The initial information showed that the accident happened whilst operating the gantry carrying rock blocks ? says Agata Kostyk-Lewandowska, the press spokeswoman of the District Labour Inspectorate in Wrocław.
One of the blocks got loose and hit the victim in the head. It is not, however, the version that I can confirm at the moment. I am not going to talk about it until the audit procedures that examine the causes and circumstances of the event have come to their end. There is no doubt that the worker who died was not trained in occupational health and safety and did not have a medical certificate proving that there is no limitation for him to work on that position.

THE INSPECTIONS WILL FOLLOW

As we found out, this tragic accident will surely cause one thing. The organs responsible for controlling companies as regards occupational health and safety will examine stone industry with a fine tooth comb! Who should expect the unexpected inspection? ? We are not going to introduce ? as it was in 2009 ? a specific, separate inspection, but we are going to have a closer look at stone companies. Indeed, the stone industry employers may feel a little bit anxious, but only those from Lower Silesia. This is all a result of the accident that occurred on 11 January 2011 in Strzegom, says Agata Kostyk-Lewandowska, the press spokeswoman of the District Labour Inspectorate in Wrocław. - Under the articles published in the Internet there appeared information that this industry, small companies in particular, is ?infected? with an epidemic of illegal employment. For sure, we are going to check it, but please do not expect me to tell you where and when. These inspections will not deal only with the issues connected with the legality of employment. Unfortunately, the inspections carried out in 2010 and those carried out after this unfortunate accident proved that another big problem is fulfilling at least minimum requirements for machines and devices. Many of them are used without the decision allowing for their exploitation. It is quite common ? just like in the case of this unfortunate company in Strzegom ? that machines and devices are illegally modified. What is more, it often takes place in an unprofessional way. There are no statistics as regards particular types of machines, but if there were they would be conducted on a very limited sample and, consequently, would suffer from serious statistical error. This is so since, for example, last year we did not check any bridge saws, any edge polishers, and we have checked, I guess, one CNC centre for several years...

Since 29 December 2009 there has been a new amended directive on machinery ? it came in force in Poland by the decree of the Minister of Economy and concerns the basic requirements that machines must fulfil (Dz. U. Nr 199, poz. 1228) (Polish Journal of Laws, no. 199, item 1228). Although this directive concerns the producers, and only indirectly the users, we need to be aware that, for example, the exploitation of an electric driven gantry ? even the one produced many years ago ? must be also legalised, that is technically inspected. The workshop owners must realise the fact that old cranes, which do not conform to current requirements, are the machines which do not comply with law. If an accident happens when using such a machine, the owners will take the full responsibility for it. The fact that the crane does not meet the requirements included in the decree will be another matter of aggravation. As a result, economising might become very expensive. Using a machine without the consent of the Office of Technical Inspection is threatened with a fine or even imprisonment! Can we give any advice to the owners of ?old? machines? ? It is possible to adapt the machine to the directive on machinery. They may use the offer of various certification bodies (more about them at www.udt.gov.pl) or permanent service agreements offered by professional engineering companies, says Ewa Drobińska, the spokeswoman of the Office of Technical Inspection.

CALL THE TECHNICAL INSPECTION

- We have to say about two things here: if cranes with manual lift drives are not subject to inspection there is no obligation to report the accidents related with the use of this kind of machines. Consequently, we have no information about such accidents. We suspect, however, that not all mechanic cranes are reported to be subject of inspection. It is partly because of the fact that the users are not informed about it, but we think that in most cases they do not treat it seriously and do not do it on purpose. The Office of Technical Inspection does not carry out regular inspections. We cooperate with the National Labour Inspectorate in this matter and react to all notifications received from its inspectors. Just to remind ? the devices that must be reported to be subject of inspection are, among others, machines used to moving loads within a limited reach: winches and hoists, the already mentioned gantries, cranes, jacks ? except for those that are used to tilt technological tables and portable jacks with manual drive; other devices subject to inspection are fork lift trucks with mechanic lift drive, construction-site hoists, loading and unloading machines, conveyors, pullers of rail vehicles. All the above mentioned devices are specified in the regulations as ?short transportation devices?.

What about a gantry built, for example, on your own before the directive entered in force? We asked the main specialist from the Inspection Coordination Team at the Office of Technical Inspection: The Ministry?s decree of 16 July 2002 as regards the minimum requirements for the devices subject to technical inspection does not exclude gantries ?built on your own?. As a result, such gantries are also subject to technical inspection, says Paweł Rajewski.

- The date of production is not a reason to exclude from this decree, either. The law does not allow for such exclusion. Whilst operating such devices (old ones) one needs to pay attention to fulfilling minimum requirements included in the decree of the Minister of Economy of 30 October 2002 as regards the minimum requirements concerning occupational health and safety when operating machines by workers during work (Dz. U. No. 191, poz. 1596, with amds.). On the basis of the above mentioned decree such machines must conform to the minimum safety requirements and identify the existing hazards which might appear during operation. Moreover, as in case of all devices, we need to remember that these devices must be used following the user manual and the people in charge of their operation and in charge of maintenance must have qualification certificates issued by the Office of Technical Inspection.

YOU NEED TO KNOW THE RULES

The regulations concerning the basic requirements for machines are precise (more about it on page 72). The machine which enters the market or is commissioned must have a user manual (§ 58. 1.). Quite often we can find incomplete translations of manuals into Polish and in many cases the inspectors find gross negligence here.

- We do not have general statistics allowing us to specify the number of machines in which this negligence occurred ? last year we checked machine tools and in 6 out of 38 cases there were no translations into Polish. What is more, one machine did not have any documents attached, explains the spokeswoman of the District Labour Inspectorate Wrocław.

Rafał Dobrowolski

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