Monday Accident & Lessons Learned: Equipment Guard NI
The picture above is from a airport jet bridge in Frankfurt, Germany.
If yopu look at the ground level you can just make out the wheels that cary a very heavy load.
You might also notice that they have a guard to keep people away.
Why did I notice this?
Because last year at the Knoxville airport a Delta employee was run over by these wheels. It totally crushed one leg.
There was no guard when the accident happened. Instead, Delta had a policy that all employees should be clear before the jet bridge was moved and stay clear while in motion.
Obviously, this administrative control (SPAC in TapRooT® lingo) failed (SPAC Not Used).
However, a physical guard might be a better safeguard than an administrative control.
Next time I get a chance I will have to see if the corrective action from the Knoxville accident was to add guards on the Knoxville jet bridges.