become more common over the last few years. Excavators and backhoes are designed for rapid earth moving and are not designed for lifting operations as their principal function. When planning a lifting operation, you should firstly consider whether an excavator is the most appropriate machine, taking into account the type of lift and the duration of the task.
The purpose of this document is to set out precautions and procedures that should be taken into account when planning and carrying out lifting operations with excavators and other types of earth moving equipment (backhoe and loaders) to enable the work to be done safely and in accordance with your legal duties.
2. Particular Hazards Associated with Lifting with Excavators
The use of an excavator or backhoe for lifting creates additional hazards for personnel in the vicinity. Under normal circumstances, personnel are kept away from the working area around the bucket of an excavator, as this is considered to be a hazardous area. Where the excavator is used for object handling however, the slinger has to be in the danger area in order to hook the load on to the hooking device. This puts the slinger at risk of being struck by the load, bucket or excavator arm if the excavator moves without warning.
One common incident of this type is where the excavator slews rapidly, for example when the operator catches the cuff of his coat on the left hand joystick, and the ground worker is struck by the bucket or dipper arm or crushed between the dipper arm and a fixed object. Injuries are usually severe in these cases. Excavator operators and slingers should be made aware of these dangers and effective communications must always be maintained between slinger and operator. The excavator operator should always make use of the safety lever (safety armrest) whenever the slinger is in the danger area.
Traveling with a suspended load is particularly hazardous. The pre-lifting risk assessment should ensure that the hazards associated with this operation are fully considered, particularly the presence of personnel adjacent to the machine’s travel path.
3. Lifting of Persons with Excavators
Excavators should not be used under any circumstances for the lifting of persons as they are primarily designed for excavating with a bucket and consequently are capable of operating speeds and movements which make them totally unsuitable for the lifting of persons.
Access to height on construction sites should be by machines designed for the purpose of lifting persons such as MEWPs, mast climbing work platforms, suspended access platforms or passenger/goods hoists, or by the use of scaffolds. In exceptional circumstances and where it is not reasonably practicable to achieve access by less hazardous means, a suitable crane with a man-riding basket may be used in accordance with Clause 23.1 of BS 7121:2006 - Code of practice for safe use
