Typical Examples of Hand Chain Hoists Operating in Violation of Safety Rules

Typical Examples of Hand Chain Hoists Operating in Violation of Safety Rules

Hand chain hoists are widely used in various industrial production and daily operations for lifting cargo and installing equipment due to their ease of operation and portability. However, failure to strictly adhere to safety rules can easily lead to serious accidents, resulting in significant loss of life and property. The following details some typical examples of hand chain hoists operating in violation of safety rules.

1. Overloading and Broken Lifting Pins Lead to Tragedy

At 10:50 a.m. on August 21, 1993, the Fifth Installation Engineering Department of the Heilongjiang Chemical Construction Company was working in the company's boiler room using a hand chain hoist with a rated lifting capacity of 2 tons to lift a 2,038.1-kilogram economizer. When the economizer reached the desired height, the lifting pin securing the hand chain hoist's lifting chain suddenly broke, causing the economizer to fall and injuring Zhu Kai, a farmworker who was unable to avoid the impact. He eventually died from his injuries. In this accident, the construction workers seriously violated the "Hand Chain Hoist Safety Rules," which prohibit overloading. The overload caused the hand chain hoist to withstand a tensile force far exceeding its design limit, resulting in the fracture of a key component. This not only highlights the construction workers' lack of safety awareness but also reflects a lack of safety management at the construction site, where strict calculation and monitoring of lifting weights were not performed.

2. Lifting heavy objects at an angle, causing swinging objects and injuries

A steel company's ironworks plant experienced a burnout at the No. 9 tuyere elbow of the blast furnace. Before the repair shop arrived, the furnace foreman, A, arbitrarily decided to have the trenching team perform the repairs. During the operation, Worker B hung a hand chain hoist diagonally from the lifting ring on the east side of the elbow on the ring pipe inclined beam, while Worker C hung another hand chain hoist vertically from the lifting ring on the gooseneck pipe and the lifting ring directly above the elbow. When the pin on the west side of the pin column accidentally fell off, the upward force of the east side's fall chain caused the 12-ton tuyere elbow to swing eastward. Due to the narrow working space, Worker B was unable to avoid the elbow and was struck in the chest by the elbow, ultimately dying despite medical attention.

The key cause of this accident was the operator's incorrect positioning of the hand chain hoist. The west side's fall chain was hung vertically, while the east side's fall chain was hung diagonally, resulting in an unbalanced force distribution. Once the pin had disengaged, the elbow would inevitably swing under the diagonal force, and the narrow working area left the worker with nowhere to evade. This clearly demonstrates the operator's lack of knowledge about lifting operations, the absence of effective on-site safety guidance and supervision, and their insufficient understanding of the dangers of diagonal lifting.

3. Use of Defective Equipment Leads to Chain Breakage and Injuries

At 8:20 AM on August 24, 1993, at the Xiaolaihe Iron Mine mining and processing workshop of a steel company, Yang Xiuming, a foreman fitter, used a Hand Hoist and an electric hoist to lift a 4-ton crusher main shaft without a crane operator present. During the lifting process, a defect in the link connecting the hand hoist hook to the lifting chain occurred. This defect, which had not been discovered and repaired in time, had not been subject to regular inspections and pre-use safety checks. This caused the link to break, causing the main shaft to fall, crushing Yang Xiuming, who was standing in the danger zone, onto the foundation of the circular mill. Despite rescue efforts, he died.

This accident demonstrates that the use of a defective hand hoist without rigorous equipment safety inspections is like planting a time bomb. Furthermore, the unauthorized operation of the lifting equipment by a non-crane operator, while standing in the danger zone, further increased the risk of an accident. Failure to implement the safety production responsibility system within the workshop and work section, as well as the lack of effective safety technical briefings, also contributed significantly to the accident.

4. Illegal simultaneous lifting of multiple hoists resulted in the collapse of the rain shelter, resulting in death.

On February 29, 2020, Foshan Gaoming Baoshan New Building Materials Co., Ltd. was carrying out a rain shelter elevation project. Construction workers used seven hand hoists to hoist the inner side of the shelter. On the afternoon of March 1, when the shelter was raised approximately 1.5 meters and ready for securing, a partial collapse suddenly occurred at the north corner, causing Huang Shichao to fall to the ground and die despite rescue efforts. The investigation revealed that Huang Shichao, the foreman of the mechanical repair team, organized the construction work in violation of regulations. Workers violated the "Hand Chain Hoist Safety Regulations" by using more than two hand chain hoists simultaneously to lift the awning. Furthermore, the wire ropes used to suspend the two hand chain hoists were not connected according to regulations at the time of the incident. The hand chain hoists were illegally pulling heavy objects at an angle, causing the wire ropes to become unhooked at the hooks and leading to the collapse of the awning. This accident reflects the company's inadequate implementation of its primary responsibility for production safety, chaotic safety management at the construction site, and workers' lack of safety awareness and disregard for safety regulations.

5. Working at Height Without Protective Equipment, Stepping on an Empty Grating and Falling

At approximately 8:24 AM on March 24, 2024, in Xinggang Town, Tieshangang District, an equipment installation worker from Nanning Liangong Labor Service Co., Ltd. was working on the 4600 alkali furnace of Nine Dragons Paper (Beihai) Co., Ltd. when he used a hand chain hoist at an angle to pull the fan drive shaft. During the movement of the wooden box and the drive shaft, the bottom of the box pressed against and rubbed the grating, causing the grating clips to dislodge and shift. Worker Chen Quan accidentally stepped on the shifting grating while walking, and fell from the 25.3-meter-high grating platform to the ground 11.7 meters above sea level. He died despite rescue efforts.

In this accident, the equipment installer violated the "Hand Chain Hoist Safety Rules" by lifting heavy objects at an angle. He also failed to wear a safety belt while working at height, and failed to identify the hazardous factors in the on-site work environment. The construction company failed to assign a dedicated person to conduct on-site safety management, failed to supervise the proper use of safety belts by workers, and failed to promptly identify and eliminate potential safety hazards. This series of violations and management deficiencies ultimately led to the tragedy.

These typical cases demonstrate that violating the safety rules for hand chain hoists, whether through overloading, lifting at an angle, using defective equipment, illegally lifting multiple units simultaneously, or working at height without proper protective gear, can lead to serious safety accidents. When using a hand chain hoist, you must strictly abide by safety rules, do a good job of equipment inspection, improve safety awareness, strengthen on-site management, ensure the safety of each operation, and avoid similar tragedies from happening again.