EDF seminar UFL: moving towards the'0 'accident

Specifier of many lifting and handling operations in France, EDF has approached the lifters to study the safety conditions and explore areas for progress.

EDF UFL seminar: aiming for "0" accidents

An initiative placed under the aegis of the French Lifting Union (UFL), to which INRS has contributed. All these actors are mobilizing in favor of better risk prevention. How ? By adopting a common safety culture, an essential prerequisite for any collaboration. For this, the co-construction of common good practice rules and the development of a shared “culture” of safety are therefore necessary. Already, the signing of the Charter, which commits EDF and UFL, illustrates the desire to work together and communicate in order to improve things and work with the best possible control, through better risk assessment by the operational teams.

As such, the clarification of the roles of each is an essential prerequisite: the responsibility is not the same depending on whether the lifter intervenes as a hirer of lifting equipment with operator or as a service provider. In the first case, the responsibility for the operation lies with the person renting the equipment. In the case of a lifting service, the responsibility for the operation is entrusted by the principal to the lifter. Another notable difference, the obligation of means incumbent on the lifter when he intervenes as a lessor turns into an obligation of result when it comes to a lifting contract.

Accidentology

RT JoBlogs1968: 📌How to Create a Strong Burning Charcoal Fire Without Lighter Fluid. Tutorial, Tips & Warnings. #s… http://t.co/wSJJmTcG6F

— SPRTG Sun Jun 28 09:06:13 +0000 2015

A fatal accident that occurred inside the EDF thermal power plant in Blénod (54) in 2019 triggered a special initiative on the part of the electrician in cooperation with the Union Française de Levage. Based on the approach in favor of safety and risk prevention of the DTEAM entity, through the Safety Commitment Program (PEPS), it was decided to broaden the reflection to the whole of the Lifting sector. The objective? Together, define areas for improvement, whether technical, material, regulatory, organizational or managerial. A holistic approach intended to better understand the “grey areas” and thus contribute to improving safety. The DTEAM division, which is at the heart of EDF's industrial production (thermal and nuclear), is notably in charge of heavy maintenance, exceptional transport and internal logistics within the group. This entity brings together nearly 5,000 people, in constant contact with lifting and handling operations of all kinds with all types of equipment. “In addition to all the outsourced activities, we are also responsible for framework contracts for EDF,” explains Stéphane Voisin, head of industrial policies and supplier relations for the division. “Among these contracts is the management of the Lifting framework contract that we monitor for the entire Group”. This dual internal and external expertise in the field of lifting gives DTEAM a global vision of the problem, thanks in particular to its relations with the lifters, whom the principal calls on regularly.

Commitment

By affixing his signature to the Charter, alongside that of Jean-Bernard Lévy, Chairman of EDF, Michel Licausi, Chairman of the Union Française du Levage, formalized the union's commitment. “Improving safety is a concern shared by all of our members,” recalls Michel Licausi. "The initiative taken by EDF being part of the continuity of our work, it seemed natural to us to participate in the process". The review, in situ, of the various lifting operations made it possible to identify the anomalies and the points of improvement to be planned, taking into consideration the constraints and expectations of the two parties. "In the field of security, nothing is ever definitively acquired and the sharing of experiences constitutes a lever on which we must act", underlines Michel Licausi. “The collection of recommendations is a first step. We intend to continue with EDF in order to continue the work undertaken, the professionalism and the requirements of this principal allowing us to pull the profession upwards and therefore to gain skills, in particular in the field of risk prevention and accidents”. In fact, the professionalism of the UFL and the mobilization of its members have contributed to the quality of the work carried out jointly.

Risk analysis.

Meetings in the field involving representatives of UFL and EDF made it possible to observe practices and analyze risks before defining a collection of recommendations and a charter of good practices. 9 “sensitive” situations have thus been the subject of “practical” solutions, accepted by all. Factual elements, accessible to the greatest number and shared by all stakeholders, which form the basis of a common culture in the field of security. "Our mission is, at its request, to support this working group according to the problematic situations that it may encounter in a long-term vision", recalls François-Xavier Artarit, expert in risk prevention at INRS. "We are available to provide our expertise and find solutions in line with best practices for the use of mobile cranes". Lifting is a risky activity: lifting loads close to people is a potentially accident-prone context. Paradoxically, lifting is also a means of prevention: without suitable lifting equipment, the situation would be much worse. The difficulty, in the field of lifting, therefore lies in the proper implementation of the mobile crane on the site, which requires sometimes complex rules. Contrary to the installation of a tower crane, which is anticipated and validated upstream of the operations, the mobile crane intervenes over a short period and under much more random conditions: access conditions, allocated space, positioning of the machine , bearing capacity of the ground, lifting conditions, … so many imponderables which complicate the task and increase the level of risk. It is important that the various stakeholders talk to each other, exchange their experience and discuss the points of attention detected or a risky situation. All the participants agree to recognize that any progress requires understanding the constraints of each other. Among the shared areas of progress, we can note the ban on neutralizing the safety devices, in particular the moment limiter shunt. The manipulation of counterweights also calls for new procedures. These themes, as well as the analysis of the accidentology inherent to trucks equipped with auxiliary loading cranes, should be addressed this year.