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.