On May 1, 2009, a 59-year old dredge operator with 3 years of experience was fatally injured at a dredging operation. The victim was trying to manually guide the wire cable onto one of two positioning winches on the dredge when he became entangled in it. 

• Conduct a complete pre-operational inspection of equipment that includes checking winches and cables.
• Install new winch cables to reel in the same direction as the old cable.
• Inspect winches to confirm proper reeling of the cable.
• Assign two persons to perform maintenance tasks on dredges.
• Block equipment against hazardous motion before performing maintenance tasks.
• Label valve bank levers to indicate direction of movement.
• Do not wear loose clothing when working near moving machine parts.

  Click here for: MSHA Investigation Report(pdf), Overview(powerpoint), Overview(pdf)

On April 7, 2009, a 36 - year old supervisor with 15 years of experience was fatally injured at a sand and gravel dredging operation. The victim was attempting to connect the 4160 volt cable for the dredge to load side terminals in the electrical panel when he came into contact with energized 4160 volt line side terminals. 

• Be trained and knowledgeable in the task.
• Be trained on all the electrical test and safety equipment necessary to safely test and ground the circuit being worked on.
• Use properly rated Personal Protective Equipment including Arc Flash Protection such as a hood, gloves, shirt, and pants.
• Positively identify the circuit on which work is to be conducted.
• De-energize power and ensure that the circuit is visibly open.
• Place YOUR lock and tag on the disconnecting device.
• Verify the circuit is de-energized by testing for voltage using properly rated test equipment.
• Ensure all electrical components in the cabinet are de-energized.
• Ground ALL phase conductors to the equipment grounding medium with grounding equipment that is properly rated.

  Click here for: MSHA Investigation Report(pdf), Overview(powerpoint), Overview(pdf)