Spillard News

Centurion Safety Products have received an award in the Highly Commended category of this year’s British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) Product Innovation Awards for their new ABS Concept safety helmet.
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Spillard Safety Systems of Gailey in Staffordshire has installed dual colour camera systems and convex mirrors onto a Fuchs 380 and Liebherr 984 crane at the Port of King’s Lynn, owned and operated by Associated British Ports.

Paul Freeman, ABP’s maintenance manager at King’s Lynn comments, “We operate a policy of continuous safety and risk assessment and as part of this policy we decided to equip our wheeled Fuchs crane with a narrow angle boom mounted camera and a wide angle rear facing camera to see how effective they would be. This trial convinced us that the additional safety provided for the operator was both extremely helpful and cost-effective and so a second system was ordered from Spillards for our track mounted Liebherr machine.”

The two cameras are linked to a single Optronics colour monitor located conveniently in the cab. A simple change over switch allows the operator to have either a clear view of the working point or a wide view to the rear of the machine when re-positioning along the dockside.

According to Mr. Freeman, “The boom mounted camera has proved to be a real bonus and helps the operator unload ships with greatly increased confidence, especially when loose materials such as fertilisers are concerned and a skid steer loader is put aboard to trim the final part of the cargo.”

Three new Foden Alpha tippers have recently joined the fleet of South Wales-operator Evans Bros, including a bespoke-specification tipper that Evans Bros believe to be the only one of its kind in the area.
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ll Round Vision convex mirrors supplied by Spillard Safety Systems of Gailey in Staffordshire have been specified by Hydrex for fitment to a new fleet of 44 Cat wheeled excavators and telehandlers to ensure safe working.

The quadra-spherical, half convex mirrors will ensure that operator visibility meets the current Health & Safety Executive guidelines which require the operator to be able to see a 1 m high object placed at any point around the machine at a distance of 1 m.

Because of their shape, the quadra-spherical mirrors not only provide excellent visibility but, by omitting the unnecessary top portion, also protect the operator from overhead distraction and sun glare.

Unlike some suppliers of safety equipment, Spillard Safety Systems always undertakes a free assessment of every machine type and model in order to recommend the most suitable combination of mirrors and/or cameras to provide the required visibility. In addition, the company designs and manufactures the necessary brackets to ensure the mirrors are correctly fitted.

Being able to operate a machine safely involves a lot of skill from the 

driver, including good coordination and excellent spacial awareness. 

Anything that can improve conditions for the operator have to be a good 

thing, in particular providing aids to visibility both to the working 

area and all around the machine. 

As with so many safety issues, it is too late to have a look at the way 

you work after someone has been injured or worse. All contractors 

should carry out regular risk assessments to focus on their individual 

site conditions and machinery. What works on one site may not be ideal 

for the next. 

In opencast mining, the site can remain very much the same for a number 

of years. In some ways that makes it easier to instil safe practices as 

the conditions and machinery are not constantly changing. Typically 

though opencast involves some pretty big machinery, and operating it 

safely takes a measured approach from management and the operators 

themselves. 

For Kier Construction, and in particular the firm’s mining division 

Kier Minerals, safety is king. “Safety is number one for us,” says 

Greenburn OCCS works manager Harry Simpson. “Whatever we need on this 

site, we get.” 

It’s a policy that is paying off too. Simpson says that between the 

current site at Greenburn and the one that he was at before, he has 

presided over four years without a reportable accident, a claim that 

few site managers could match. 

Central to site safety at Greenburn is visibility. Opencast mining 

equipment is big machinery, it’s easy to lose a Land Rover from your 

mirrors when you’re in the cab of a 100 tonne rigid dump truck or a 300 

tonne face shovel, and even easier to lose sight of a man walking 

around the machine. 

Every piece of plant on the site therefore gets fitted with every 

available visibility aid, from convex mirrors to full closed circuit 

camera systems. And it’s quite a fleet of plant. 

There are three prime movers on the site, a recently commissioned 

Komatsu PC3000 on backhoe duty and two Demag 255S excavators, one set 

up as a face shovel and one in backhoe configuration. These are loading 

a fleet of eight Caterpillar 777D 100 tonne rigid dump trucks and three 

777B 80 tonners. The haul roads and tipping area are being maintained 

by a Cat 16H grader and three D9R dozers. 

In addition the site is using a Cat 345 excavator, a 320 and two 325 

coal shovels. The coal is being hauled by a fleet of five Caterpillar 

D400 articulated trucks to Kier’s own disposal point where Cat 980G 

wheeled loaders blend the coal and load it into road haulage trucks and 

rail wagons. 

With such a predominance of Cat machinery on site, it will come as no 

surprise to find that dealer Finning has three service staff based in 

workshops at Greenburn at all times. Komatsu also has a fitter based on 

the site to look after the PC3000 and the two Demags. 

Providing vision aids for such a wide variety of machines has fallen to 

Finning’s preferred supplier Spillard Safety Systems, which has 

recently equipped the new Komatsu with two separate closed circuit 

camera systems, a rollover restraint system, convex mirrors and a 

movement alarm. 

The giant Komatsu tips the scales at 253 tonnes, and is equipped with a 

15cu m bucket at Greenburn. It boasts 1,260hp of power, enough to rip 

through the blasted material and load the 777 dump trucks with ease, so 

keeping out of range is an important consideration when operating with 

the machine. 

With a new piece of equipment Spillard would normally carry out an 

onsite risk assessment, to see what safety kit is required. However the 

PC3000 is basically a modern version of the two Demags on the same 

site, so the firm knew exactly what would be needed from past 

experience. 

The TV systems use the latest Optronics 140mm colour LCD screens, 

mounted side by side above the main console in the cab. Colour screens 

offer a big improvement over the old mono screens, as it is much easier 

to see a fluorescent jacket in colour. The Optronics cameras are 

equipped with night sight, out to a distance of 10m, which is an 

essential for a machine working long hours in the depths of winter. 

The PC3000 has one camera mounted at the rear of the machine and one to 

the right hand side, the operator can see down the left hand side of 

the machine using the convex mirror mounted outside the cab. This 

combination provides the operator with a remarkably good range of 

vision around the massive machine, making it easier to operate and 

safer for all concerned. 

Greenburn opencast coal site is situated near Ayr in Scotland. Kier 

started work there some 16 months ago, and has planning permission for 

a further five years of coaling on the 450 hectare site. At present the 

excavation is running at around 45m below the surrounding ground level, 

though the bottom seams will be found at around 60m down. 

However before any digging even started, Kier had to build a 1km 

roadway for local farmers, running around the site, and lay 3.5km of 

railway to join the disposal point up to the main rail network. 

Unusually Kier even built an underpass under local roads to allow the 

D400 coal haulers to run to the disposal point without having to cross 

public roads. 

Kier is working a number of coal seams at Greenburn, with depths from 

100mm to 0.5m. The site has an overburden to coal ratio of around 14:1, 

so there is plenty of work for the heavy plant to be getting on with, 

shifting a mix of sandstone, shales and mudstone. At present Kier is 

extracting 12,000-14,000 tonnes of coal every week, the majority of 

which goes out by rail from its own railhead at the disposal point. 

Despite the remote location, Kier ensures that all of its machine 

operators are trained to CPCS levels, again no doubt contributing to 

that enviable safety record. 

While cameras, mirrors and other forms of vision aid are welcome 

additions to any piece of plant, they are not always necessary, 

particularly on smaller kit. Pete Spillard, managing director of 

Spillard Safety Systems, admits that there is no actual regulation that 

dictates exactly what should be fitted to a specific machine. 

He says that it is down to the person running the equipment to carry 

out a risk assessment and decide what they require for their machine in 

their circumstances. “A belt and braces approach, with cameras and 

mirrors, is not always necessary,” he says. “In fact sometimes it can 

be a distraction for the operator.” 

Despite obviously wanting to sell safety equipment, he adds: “We object 

to a blanket belt and braces approach, it’s detrimental to business.” 

Instead he believes there is a process of education that needs to be 

done, both for owners of equipment and for operators. They need to be 

made aware of the risks and of what is available to combat them. 

That said, the company offers a wide range of camera systems, mirrors, 

proximity radars and movement alarms for a range of industries. 

Spillard says that the HSE’s ‘rule of thumb’1m by 1m system works well, where an 

operator should be able to see someone standing 1m away from the 

machine at a height of 1m above the ground. If you can’t, then the 

chances are you might need some sort of vision aid. 

The BSIF (British Safety Industry Federation) has combined with Flint Insurance to create a new approach to commercial insurance on the basis that independent evidence of a genuine application of good health and safety practices will provide lower insurance costs for commercial organizations.
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To maintain operational stability when using such a long and weighty telescopic demolition boom, Kocurek has had to carry out extensive modifications to the crawler base of the WX1200. The challenge was to ensure that the machine could offer a full 360 degrees working envelope when carrying the 2.5 tonne shear at a working radius of up to 25.0m.

To retain maximum mobility without the need for outriggers on the track frames, the firm has dramatically extended the EX1200’s undercarriage. “Lengthening each track frame was straightforward,” says David Kocurek. “We put an additional 1.2m onto each side by adding one top and two bottom rollers together with extra track links.”

Getting a wider footprint was more challenging. “We developed an hydraulically adjustable undercarriage – similar to the system used on mini excavators – to give up to 900mm of additional width on each side,” he says. “This way,  we can keep the machine quite narrow for transport, then make it wider and stable for high-reach demolition.”

The extra track length also contributes to machine stability when lifting the demolition boom off its cradle. And Kocurek has ensured the EX1200 can make a straight lift, raising the whole boom assembly from the horizontal position without any external assistance.
 “We had to put a third lift ram onto the excavator’s boom root section to provide additional lifting power,” he adds. “But even with a boom weighing 27 tonnes. The EX1200 can lift it on fast idle.”
 With three hydraulic systems delivering about 1500 litres of oil flow, the EX1200 only needs to gather up full hydraulic capacity when installing itself and the boom on site. Once raised into position, only 250 litres are needed to power the attachment.
 “We’ve diverted flow away when it’s not needed and this is managed by three of our own on-board computers which work alongside Hitachi’s electronics,” says the inventive David Kocurek. “These provide diagnostic, monitoring and flow control functions. And in-cab control allows the operator to swap between demolition and mass excavation when at the controls although visibility is enhanced by three cameras, and two in-cab colour monitors. One monitor displays images from the end of the boom showing the work tool, while the other alternates between images from a rear-view camera on the counterweight and from the third camera located on the right hand side of the machine.

Even the excavator cab has been fully rebuilt. Extra space was needed for Kocurek to install its own electronic and hydraulic components to run alongside the factory fitted equipment.
 The extensive cab conversion provides five- layer laminated glass for the roof and front windscreen, with a butt-joint used between panes to provide pillar less vision through the top of the cab. However, demolition guards are still in place.

He cab is fixed but the seat has gained its own tilting mechanism. Thus the operator can recline back into a comfortable working position so as t avoid neck injury from constantly looking upwards.
 “We’ve worked closely throughout this project with the support of Hitachi and dealer HM Plant says David Kocurek. “And as a recognised conversion, we are proud to say that any warranty issues will not be swept under the carpet by any of the parties involved.”
 Dust suppression has been catered for. Using an hydraulically driven power washer pump, the machine has the ability to deliver up to 17 litres/min at the shear, when connected to a mains water supply. In addition, the system comes with its own auxiliary hose and lance, allowing the excavator operator to hose down the machine when necessary. 
   
  

Spillard Safety Systems of Gailey in Staffordshire has recently equipped a Komatsu PC3000 excavator with devices from its All Round Vision range to ensure it operates in complete safety on Kier Mining’s Greenburn opencast mining site in Ayrshire.
            Two separate Optronics closed circuit camera systems, manufactured by Spillards, are coupled to a pair of cab-mounted 5.6” colour flat screen LCD monitors to enable the operator to see to the rear and right hand side of the massive 253 tonne machine. Both cameras are also fitted with night sights which allow a low light viewing distance of up to 10 m – one of the most powerful currently available. In addition, a well positioned convex mirror takes care of vision to the left hand side of the excavator.
            The company has also fitted the PC3000 with one of its high quality rollover harness restraint systems and a movement alarm.
            In fact, all 25 major items of mobile machinery on this large Kier site have been subject to the Spillard treatment in order to provide a total package of blind spot elimination in order to meet Kier Mining’s high safety standards.
 

For the second year in a row, Alfred McAlpine Slate Ltd have received a prestigious accolade for their health and safety performance.
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European Standard EN1459 covering telehandlers indicates that “The truck design shall provide sufficient visibility to enable the operator to carry out all travel and manoeuvres safely. In order to aid the operator to avoid collisions when visibility is limited, built devices (such as mirrors, cameras and audible alarms) shall be provided.”
 

 The use of telehandlers on site in the UK is covered by the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER 98). Here, Regulations 28(e) states that “where the operators direct field of vision is inadequate to ensure safety then visibility  aids or other suitable devices should be provided so far as is reasonably practical”.
 
At recent SED shows, both the HSE and prominent suppliers such as Spillard Safety Systems have exhibited additional mirrors designed for use on telehandlers. These displays, coupled with reports of the HSE’s particular interest in telehandler visibility, have seemingly influenced many site agents and safety officers to demand extra convex mirrors on machines used on their sites after making risk assessments.
 

 Such assessments are necessary as PUWER 98 lays responsibility for site safety firmly upon the user. Usefully, advice on conducting risk assessments an site will be included in a new Practical Guide to All Round Awareness shortly to be published by the Off-highway Plant and Equipment Research Centre (OPERC) at Loughborough University (Tel;01509 222884).
 

The demand for extra mirrors has been so great that Manitou (site Lift) Ltd is now fitting them as standard to all its Maniscopics supplied to the construction sector. The company installs a specially developed Manieye convex mirror to the rear of each machine and also fits an additional side mirror to talehandlers with maximum lifting heights over 10.0m.