Subby

Worksafe Australia is investigating a cherrypicker collapse which killed a 25-year-old mechanical engineer at a cement works

Failure to regulate suspect certifications of height access machinery is putting lives at risk and threatens a recently introduced system for control, according to the Elevating Work Platform Association of New Zealand.
In correspondence obtained by subby, EWPANZ secretary Bryan Nunweek accuses the Department of Labour of failure to act against suspect certifications and says the department has ‘deliberately misled’ the association.
Some elevating work platform (ewp) trainers have found machines with new certifications that are ‘literally falling to pieces’, EWPANZ says in the letter. One machine was so rusty the trainer’s feet broke through the deck. The training did not proceed.
Cherrypicker failure
EWPANZ, a national organisation of height access companies and trainers with 50 members, became extremely concerned after the failure of a cherrypicker in Whanganui in August 2002 and the department’s subsequent investigation of the issue. The failed machine was a ‘used import’ which the manufacturer said was withdrawn from service and sold for spare parts. It had been certified by a Wellington engineer.
The investigation caused considerable controversy, both within the industry and the Department of Labour. The controversy eventually led to new guidelines and methods for certification being introduced this year [1:04:12].
Last year’s EWPANZ letter to the Department of Labour was prompted by concern about another import, an underbridge unit, used on the Auckland northwest motorway project, and again certified by the company.
A lengthy email correspondence between the engineer and EWPANZ, included the engineer’s revelation that the DoL investigative report on the Whanganui machine collapse was “withdrawn” after he questioned its accuracy. This was the first EWPANZ had heard of the withdrawal and the association concludes that DoL’s responses “seem designed to obscure rather than highlight the key issues and their remedies”.
More importantly, EWPANZ worries that concerns highlighted in the Whanganui
report are not addressed. “The department’s subsequent failure to address this issue continues to undermine all other ewp safety initiatives,” the association says.
“Since finding, as a matter of fact, in 2002 that [the company] had issued what was in effect a bogus certificate, the department failed to act as he has issued hundreds more, each with a 5- to 10-year life.”
EWPANZ believes that the new certification regime for equipment inspectors—developed with significant resources from the industry and in association with [DoL Workplace], ACC and Certification Board for Inspection Personnel (CBIP—is in jeopardy if the department continues to “turn a blind eye to the continued widespread issuing of fraudulent safety certificates”.
Department’s response
The Department of Labour wrote in reply to EWPANZ that there was no deliberate attempt to mislead.
Maarten Quivvoy, group manager of Workplace Services, says the 2002 report was withdrawn when the certifier contended his actions were appropriate in the circumstances as a professional engineer. An amended report was to be released in June 2003, but it was decided not to expend any further department resources on the report – so officially there was now no report on the issue, he says.The Department of Labour’s Bob Hill, acting chief advisor for Safe and Healthy Workplaces, says that the recent introduction of a CBIP Standard of Proficiency for EWP Inspectors now provides a basis for the DoL Workplace to benchmark the competence of those performing such inspections.
“Users considering employing an engineer who does not hold CBIP certification will need to take steps to satisfy themselves that they are competent in relation to this particular type of work. The department will recognise ‘as of right’ the certificates of CBIP Inspectors and usually make no further inquiries. Certificates issued by others may be subject to further investigation to determine whether all practicable steps have been taken in the circumstances,” Bob says.
The department’s policy on this matter will be set out in a position paper to be prepared in association with EWPANZ. No date has yet been set for the publication of the position paper, but it is expected before the end of the year after further consultation, Bob Hill says.

Full capt: Worksafe Australia is investigating the collapse of a cherrypicker which killed a 25-year-old mechanical engineer at a West Australian cement works in mid-June. The man was believed to have been tightening bolts on a silo when the boom and basket collapsed and he fell around six metres