Ben Collins

THE INQUEST TOUCHING THE DEATH OF BEN COLLINS — ACTION TO PREVENT
FUTURE DEATHS

Ben Collins tragically died on the 27 July 2015 following a work accident involving a suction
and vacuum excavator.

The inquest concluded on 1 August 2016 with the jury returning a verdict of accidental death.
Following the hearing HM Coroner served a Regulation 28 report on the HSE requiring
written response to the following areas of concern: ;

‘[That] the HSE give consideration to the provision of guidance regarding training and the
use of suction excavation equipment including a recommendation for the provision of a
second man fully trained to use the Suction Excavator and associated equipment, regular
servicing of remote controllers together with the proper documentation of such.’

HSE responds to the Regulation 28 report as follows:

GUIDANCE — HSE publishes a wide range of health and safety guidance written for use by
industry and interested parties. For more technical or targeted guidance HSE now finds that
itis more effective to assist industry trade bodies to write their own guidance. This allows
the guidance to be more relevant and specific to users, easier to keep up to date and to
access. The HSE has been working closely with the Construction Plant-hire Association
(CPA) to improve standards regarding the use of suction excavators. The CPA has formed a
Suction and Vacuum Excavator interest group, which comprises of representatives from the
HSE, manufacturers, users and hire companies. The main thrust of the group is to produce
guidance. At the time of writing this has reached the stage of a second draft which is out for

consultation within the group.

Their next meeting is in mid-October and they hope to have the guidance published in early
2017 (no specific date has been set and the timescale is dependent on the goodwill of
industry participants who contribute in their spare time). The guidance will be available to
download free of charge from the CPA website and will be reviewed and updated as this

niche industry develops.

The second draft includes sections on training, the use of a second person, maintenance
and examples of daily and weekly checks and inspection records.

THE USE OF A SECOND PERSON - The draft guidance states “In principal, excavation
with a suction and vacuum excavator should be considered a two —person operation unless
the risk assessment allows for single person operation for the particular task. Each new
activity must be risk assessed before single person operation can be authorised.” The
default position in the current draft of the guidance is therefore two person operation but with
the rider to allow single person operation for extremely simple work.

The second person is defined in the draft guidance as: “ personnel trained to have machine
operating skills used to support the excavating activity and the principal operator, and can
take charge in emergency situations.” The draft guidance outlines the areas of training and
or familiarisation that should be undertaken, which includes emergency- stop procedures

and locations of emergency — stop controls, and re activation of the machine following
emergency stop control activation.

MAINTENANCE - the draft guidance states that: “the function of all controls and safety
devices should be checked by the suction and vacuum excavator operator for correct —
working before the excavator commences. The remote control units should be checked to
ensure sufficient battery power is available for the intended operations, clean, free from
damage and the operation of the emergency stop button and any other isolating devices .
must be checked for operational function.” HSE will also recommend to the CPA that the
text should stress that remote control units contain sensitive electronic devices and that any
damage or malfunction noted means the unit should not be used until it has been repaired.

The guidance also covers routine inspection and maintenance that should be aligned to
manufacturer's requirements. :

TRAINING - The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has set up a voluntary national
training course for suction and vacuum excavator operators. This includes both a practical
and theory test. The practical test will be led by an assessor who is independent of the
trainer. Successful candidates will obtain a Construction Industry Training Board (CITB)

accredited qualification.

As with most examined CITB courses there will be an option for operators who were trained

in-house and are suitably experienced to bypass the CITB training course and achieve

qualification by undertaking the written and practical test. The pass mark for CITB assessed

courses and the method of testing is designed to assist those with literacy problems whilst

maintaining the pass criteria at a suitably high level i.e. all candidates need to demonstrate a
_high level of knowledge and understanding to achieve a pass mark.

-At the time of writing, this course and the assessment scheme is being launched. Once
established this should, subject to duty holders implementing effective management
arrangements, exclude untrained operators from the market and within a period estimated
to be approx. 2 years will result in a near fully trained suction and vacuum workforce. This
time period is necessary to enable a backlog of current in-house trained operators to pass

through the new system.

It is the HSE’s opinion that the new guidance, once published; and the new accredited
training scheme, once established, will cover the key points raised by the HM Coroner.