The following description was taken from Safer Together: Learning Event Bulletin – Loss of Load.

Are you involved in packing, loading or transporting HPUs?

Did you know that hatch doors on some HPUs can lift off the hinge pins, even when the lock is engaged?

Do your procedures for packing and loading HPUs require wrapping the unit with horizontal restraints (belly wrap)?

The incident:

A worker noticed a hatch door lying beside a public road and suspected that it was a component that would normally be fitted to a Hydraulic Power Unit (HPU). Subsequent follow-up confirmed that the hatch door had been dislodged from a HPU during transport from a laydown area to a supply base. The packer was aware of the requirement to restrain the doors of older generation (larger) HPUs but did not wrap the unit with horizontal restraints (belly wrap) because the equipment required to complete the task was not available.

The transporters were unaware that the hatch door is designed to be removed by lifting vertically from the hinge pins. Without additional restraints, the hatch door lock was unable to hold the hatch door in place during transport. The hatch door lifted from the hinge pins and fell from the moving transport vehicle.

Safer Together’s Learning Event Bulletins:

Learning Event Bulletins are a tool to assist with learning from unwanted events and/or threats in order to reduce the occurrence of high potential incidents. Download this Bulletin for free to read about possible solutions and safety factors to keep in mind.

Access it at Safer Together: Loss of Load – Learning Event Bulletin.

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