Failure to Maintain Equipment<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

SWhile many\naccidents involving products are the result of a product defect that leads to\ninjury of the product user, accidents can also be the result of a failure\ncaused by lack of maintenance or inspection<\/span><\/p>\n

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Maintenance Theory<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

USLegal.com\ndefines failure to maintain premises as “a failure to keep a facility in\nthe<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

same general state\nof being, repair, or efficiency as initially constructed”, citing a\nreference of  Swieckowski by Swieckowski\nv. City of Fort Collins<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>.  The owners of property, buildings, and\npotentially hazardous products must make sure that these things are maintained\nto their original state to avoid potential repercussions from accidents\ninvolving these items.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Failure to Maintain Premises<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Failure to maintain premises can result in many different\ntypes of accidents.  These accidents\ninclude slip and fall accidents, stairway accidents, elevator accidents,\noverhead door accidents, collapse of structures, chairs, ladders, and many\nother types of accidents.  Slip and fall\naccidents are often blamed on floor surfaces with low coefficients of friction.  Stairways that are not designed with the\ncorrect height and depth, or that have varying dimensions from step to step,\ncan result in accidents.  Even though\nthis is usually not a failure to maintain, establishing that a stairway is\ndefective may be the grounds for a premises liability suit.  The design of most overhead doors requires\nmaintenance to ensure safe functioning. \nLight sensors, contact sensors, and door cables all require inspection,\nand repair or replacement if they are faulty.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Collapsing chairs result in many accidents every year.  Due to their frequent use and abuse, as well\nas their utility and longevity, chairs can collapse due to a failure to\nmaintain.  These chair failures are often\ndue to connection failures.  Legs or\nother supporting members of the chair can collapse if the connection\nfails.  Failure can occur when bolts come\nloose and fall out, screws come out of wood, welds break, structural components\nfail, or if the chair is used in a manner inconsistent with its design.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

On construction sites, there are numerous hazards that\ncan result in accidents if safeguards are not kept in place.  Railings and fall protection must be kept in\ngood working order and in compliance with standards.  Elevators must have proper guarding.  Forklifts and other construction vehicles\nmust have working seat belts and roll over protection.  Power tools must be kept in safe working\norder, including ensuring all guards are intact and fully functional.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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Failure to Maintain Vehicles<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Failure to maintain vehicles is   used in cases involving commercial\nvehicles.  When tractor-trailers lose\ncontrol and impact a vehicle, there is often serious injury or loss of life due\nto the size and weight of the tractor-trailer. \nIt is important to determine if any failure to maintain resulted in the\nloss of control that led to an accident. \nIf brakes are not properly maintained, a tractor-trailer’s stopping\ndistance can be greatly increased.  Worn\ntires can result in instability and loss of control.  Mechanical defects can lead to broken wheel\ncomponents.  An inspection by a competent\nprofessional can reveal if there was a vehicle condition that may have led to\nthe accident, and whether this condition could have been prevented with proper\nmaintenance.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Failure to Maintain Machine Safeguards<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

When we investigate industrial accidents, we often find\nthat the machine did not have the necessary safeguards to meet industry\nstandards, and prevent inadvertent contact with hazardous machinery.  Industrial machinery has a long lifespan, and\noften changes ownership multiple times. \nOur investigation process involves determining what the original state\nof the machinery was at the time of manufacture.  This can be determined by identifying product\nliterature, photographs, or by looking for signs of previously removed guards,\nsuch as unused bolt holes or brackets. \nIf evidence shows that the machine was supplied with guards that were\nlater removed, the machine owner\/employer may be responsible for damages or\ninjuries caused by the machinery.  In\nthese cases it is critical to determine if any changes were made to the\nequipment that may have involved removal of the guards.  Guards can be damaged by forklifts, other\nmachinery, or due to machine malfunction. \nThis damage may interfere with machine operation, or interfere with the\nmachine operators.  If not repaired, this\ncan lead to removal of the guards.  It is\ncritical to keep the guards in their original state.  Safety interlocks can also fail due to abuse\nor damage.  <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Intentional Bypassing of Safety\nControls<\/span><\/b><\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Safety controls\ncan be intentionally bypassed to increase productivity, or to make the machine\noperator’s job easier.  We see interlocks\nthat get bypassed in high production volume facilities where quantity of\nproduct is emphasized over worker safety. \nMaintenance personnel may have to bypass interlocks in order to diagnose\na machine malfunction.  These interlocks\nare not always returned to their original state.  If designed correctly, the safety interlock\nis enclosed or coded to make tampering difficult or impossible.  Many machines still use simple unprotected\nlimit switches for safety interlocks. These can be easily bypassed.  In these scenarios, it is imperative to\ndetermine exactly who removed the interlocks, when the interlocks were bypassed,\nand whether this was ordered by anyone.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

Contact MASE today at (855) 627-6273 \/ email to info@mase.pro<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-217","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n