The causes of safety accidents in factory machines can be attributed to unsafe behaviors of people and unsafe conditions of objects. In “Do you know the root causes of machine safety accidents?”, we concluded that “eliminating the unsafe state of objects is the premise and basis for avoiding accidents, and it is also the preferred measure.” Today, we will discuss this topic in depth by analyzing two real safety accident cases. Case 1: On June 26, 2018, the vacuum belt dehydrator of the desulfurization system of the thermal power operation department of a certain energy and chemical company in Ningdong Town, Ningxia, had a filter cloth deviation failure, causing the DCS alarm. To troubleshoot the fault, two maintenance personnel climbed onto the filter cloth and adjusted the running filter cloth by manual trampling. When one of the maintenance personnel, Wang, stepped near the pressure roller, his feet were caught between the pressure roller and the filter cloth, and then his whole body was caught, and he died after rescue failed. The accident caused one death and direct economic losses of 1.1 million yuan. Was it the main cause of the accident that the maintenance personnel stood on the filter cloth near the pressure roller to troubleshoot the problem without stopping the machine? Should Wang be held primarily responsible for the accident?

Case 2:

On February 12, 2017, a ski resort in Gongyi City, Henan Province, had to clean the snow on the magic carpet machine in the resort. To this end, the operator Wu lifted the pedal at the tail end of the magic carpet machine to complete the cleaning work. At this time, many tourists happened to take the magic carpet machine up. Because the pedal was not closed during the ride, the beam originally hidden under the pedal was exposed. When one of the tourists, Chen, boarded the magic carpet machine, his left foot on the belt was stuck between the exposed beam and the belt as the belt went up, and then his whole body was involved, and he died after rescue failed.

The accident caused one death and direct economic losses of 1.487 million yuan.

In this case, I believe everyone will think Chen is not responsible without hesitation. As the owner and manager of the magic carpet machine, the ski resort is the primary person responsible for ensuring the safety of tourists using the magic carpet machine.

Clash of opinions

Both cases are involved and the objects are in an unsafe state. Why do people have different opinions in case one? Some readers may think that the maintenance personnel in case one should have received safety training and have safety awareness. They still violated the regulations when they knew that there might be danger, so they should be responsible for the safety accident. However, the tourist Chen in case two encountered the accident when he was completely unaware of the danger, so he should not be held responsible.

Let’s make a bold assumption: In case 1, when the maintenance personnel found the filter cloth deviation fault, they stopped the equipment according to the requirements of the operating rules and then went to troubleshoot the fault. However, the equipment suddenly started unexpectedly, causing the death of the maintenance personnel Wang. Who should be responsible for the accident at this time? … Obviously, from the perspective of avoiding safety accidents, eliminating the unsafe state of objects has a higher priority than eliminating the unsafe behavior of people, because as long as the unsafe state of objects exists, it may cause safety accidents!

As an expert in the field of mechanical safety, Pilz has relatively mature solutions in all aspects, from related products to services, on how to avoid safety design defects and how to eliminate the unsafe state of objects. Paying attention to us will bring you greater value.
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