Gravel Pit Worker Killed
By Conveyor Belt

A 41-year-old worker for a gravel company was killed while he was cleaning gravel off a transfer conveyor belt. The 30" wide rubber belt was moving raw gravel along a slight incline ~5-10 feet off the ground for a distance of 225 feet. This belt became overloaded causing its electrical breaker to trip. The foreman shut down the line of 4 belts and the victim proceeded to clean away spilled gravel from the belt, assisted by a truckdriver who was recently hired by the company. When they finished, the yard foreman warned the workers and walked towards the electric panel to turn the belts on. The breaker panel was out-of-sight from the two workers, and it took a few minutes to walk there. During this time the victim suddenly noticed the clogged discharge chute from the incoming belt, and climbed up on the belt to clean it before the belts started. When the power came on, the victim fell down on the moving belt. He was a very big man, in excess of 300 lbs., and could not easily get up or jump off the belt. He yelled at his friend, who was running alongside, to shut off the belt, but the man was unfamiliar with the system and did not see the emergency shut-off switches. The victim rode the length of the belt for ~30 seconds before being pinned under an angle iron motor bracing, which fatally injured him.

1. Starting and stopping of conveyor systems should be done in visual sight range of all belts.

--Emergency shut-off switches were OFF only. Now they are modified to switch ON as well.

--This permits visual inspection of any belt prior to starting.

--Starting also includes a warning alarm as an additional safeguard.

2. Circuit breakers to all belts and conveyors in a process line should be electrically interlocked.

--This overload situation would be preventable if all belts were controlled by one breaker.

--All switches are now connected in series to prevent material spillage if a belt should stall.

3. All workers should be thoroughly trained in use of all shut off switches and safety devices.

--The driver could have stopped the belt if he was aware of the location of the OFF switch.

4. Conveyor systems should be designed to avoid clogging or material overloading.

--Overloading can lead to spillage of material, and hazardous cleanup and maintenance

--Conveyor systems should be tested for capacity, motor overheating, bearing failure, etc.