Gantry Hazard At Benmore

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29745, 12 February 1962, Page 10

Gantry Hazard At Benmore

Work on the penstocks of the Benmore dam stopped on Wednesday evening after complaints from the men that the gantry supporting them was unsafe.

At a meeting on Friday, it was agreed that no more work should be done on the penstocks until modifications were made to the gantry and the winch by which it is raised and lowered. The modifications are expected to take just over a week; in the meantime, the men are on alternative work.

The job secretary of the New Zealand Workers’ Union (Mr R. Thomas) said yesterday that the gantry “had a habit of dropping suddenly several feet with 10 to 15 men on board.”

The gantry, a platform on Which the men and their machines were supported to work at the steep penstock slope, was jarred off its rails by the movement of its winch and fell on an angle. It might fall about 4ft at one end and about 15ft at the other. In tipping in this way, it threw off tools and other objects which could endanger the lives of men working 300 to 400 ft below on the powerhouse at the foot of the slope. The drilling machine on the gantry was another danger, as already it had gone

through the floor, and might possibly break loose altogether unless precautions were taken, he said. The gantry had slipped about four times. There were two other winches and gantries not yet in use. They would be needed when work began on the other penstocks. Mr Thomas described the difficulties as “teething troubles.”

Work had been stopped, he said, on the request of the local executive of his union after its meeting on Wednesday. The executive had asked the Ministry of Works to give the men on the gantry other work until the opinion of Department of Labour officers could be secured on the safety of the arrangements. Local officials had agreed to this, and on Friday a conference had been held between Ministry and union representatives, Dunedin officers of the Department of Labour, and the chief safety officer of the department (Mr E. E. Hendnksen). General agreement had been reached on measures to be taken to improve the safety of the gear. The project engineer (Mr J. W. Ridley) gave a general confirmation of Mr Thomas’s statement. ‘‘The gantry was adequately safe, but unnerving for the men working

on it,” he said. “We want to give the men confidence. “There is no question of faulty manufacture or installation. We are working the winch with a length of steel rope greater than ever before in New Zealand. With the gantry 300 to 400 ft below the winch, the jar set up when the winch moves causes the gantry to spring a foot or more, which is the reason it jumps off its rails. To overcome this, and to give double safety, we are putting independent braking on the gantry.

“Anything dropped from the gantry should not at present endanger the men working on the powerhouse, as there is a barrier to pro. tect them. I must admit, however, that the barrier is very nearly overloaded, and something will be done about this,” he said. “We have not had a serious accident on the project, and we intend to keep up this record.” Mr Ridley said. “No serious setback to the project is involved, as the alternative work being carried out by the men from the penstocks is necessary to the completion of the job. We expect to have the modifications to the gear completed in something over a week.” Mr Hendriksen was not available for comment last evening.