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Jurong Electrical Automation Jurong Shipyard Pte. Ltd. 29, Tanjong Kling Road Singapore 628054

1. INTRODUCTION

a) Team’s Background and Objectives

We are team SPOT from Jurong Electrical Automation (JEA), Jurong Shipyard Pte Ltd. JEA is a department in JSPL which specialises in Electrical Construction for new ship building, ship repair and conversion projects. Our core functions include:

Cable installation

Cable termination

Electrical completion testing

Cable installation is identified as one of the most strenuous activity in our

department. First step in cable installation is to jack up the cable drum onto a cable

drum jack. Cable drums come in various sizes weighing from 500kg to 5000kg. The

conventional cable drum jack is less versatile because it is unable to suit various

sizes of drum and expose workers to various types of hazards. Therefore, we are

constantly spotting the workplace hazards and eliminate all these hazards through

innovation.

In line with our WSH policy, we have set our innovation project objective which is

to provide an accident free workplace for our workforce.

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b) Team’s Particular

Our team’s name is SPOT with the theme SPOT the hazards.

Team Composition:

Facilitator : Ohn Khin (Head of Department)

Team Leader : Alvin Beh Lip Teik (Engineer)

Members : Chew Teck Sin (Engineer)

Loh Heng Cheong (Engineer)

Teo Zhen Fa (Assistant Engineer)

Wong Wai Hoong (Executive)

c) Project Theme

In line with our project theme SPOT the hazards, we are constantly spotting the

hazards in our daily work activity and eliminate these hazards through innovation.

Through safety innovation, we have successfully achieved our objective to provide an

accident free workplace for our workforces.

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2. Summary of Project

a) Problem of Current Practices/Method:

Less Versatile

Figure 1: Conventional jacks are less versatile

Figure 1 shows the conventional jacks that we use to jack up a cable drum,

which is a screw jack and a fixed cable drum stand. The conventional jacks are less

versatile since it is unable to suit various sizes of cable drum. Due to various sizes of

cable drum we have, we have to use different sizes of cable drum jacks, which is

very costly.

Figure 2: Various sizes of conventional jacks

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Ergonomic Hazard

Due to the reason that the conventional jacks are less versatile, workers tend

to manually lift the cable drum stand as long as it is within their strength. Improper

posture of manual lifting may cause ergonomic problem such as back pain.

Figure 3: Improper posture of manual lifting may cause back pain

Pinch Point Hazard

When the workers manually lift the cable drum onto the jack, workers are

exposed to pinch point hazard between the steel pipe and the jack which may cause

hand and finger injury.

Figure 4: Pinch point hazard between the steel pipe and the jack

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Require Crane Lifting

If the cable drum is too heavy for manual lifting, we may need the aid of a

crane to lift up the cable drum onto the jack. This may expose the workers to

suspended load or swinging load hazard. If the workers get struck by the swinging

drum, the consequences might be quite serious.

Figure 5: Crane lifting

Require Fork-Lifting

Besides crane lifting, forklift is used to lift the cable drum onto the jack. If the

forklift operator lost control of the forklift, the workers may get struck by the moving

forklift and the consequences is very serious.

Figure 6: Fork-lifting

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Poor Mobility

Due to the poor structural design of the conventional jack, its mobility is quite

limited. Workers need to manually push and pull the jack to set up the jack in place;

this may expose the workers to physical hazards and may cause body injury.

Besides, excessive manpower is needed to operate the bulky and heavy jack.

Figure 7: Poor mobility

b) Causes

We used a fish bone diagram to do a cause-effect analysis and we had identified four

causes of all the above mentioned problems which are Man, Machine, Method and

Environment. The main cause was identified using the pareto principle which is the

Machine. Poor structural design of the tool is unable to suit various sizes of cable drum,

therefore the conventional jack require manual lifting, crane lifting or fork-lifting which

expose the workers to various type of hazards.

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c) Solution

Base on the problems we encountered, brain storming session was carried out by

our team members to come out with the best solution which is the innovative hydraulic

cable drum jack.

Figure 8: Hydraulic cable drum jack

The innovative tool hydraulic cable drum jack is designed to cater for all sizes of

cable drums. Hydraulic mechanism is selected because it is able to jack up a heavy load

by applying a minimum force.

Inner Frame

Bearing Support

Outer Frame

Hydraulic Jack

Base

Fixed Castor

Bearing Plate

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d) Abstract

The innovative hydraulic cable drum jack is so special because it:

Eliminates the needs of manual lifting, crane lifting and fork-lifting.

Prevents all the possible injuries such as hand and finger injury, back pain, struck by

falling/swinging drum and struck by forklift.

Suits various sizes of cable drum.

Ease of transportation to the desired workplace.

Improves productivity due to the reduction in operating time and manpower.

1. Project Write-Up

a) Project Selection and Definition

Reason for selecting project

1. Repeated hand and finger injuries cases due to the task of cable drum jack up.

2. Repeated back pain cases due to the task of cable drum jack up.

3. Workers’ feedback that the conventional jack has poor mobility.

4. Workers’ feedback that the conventional jack is less versatile.

Risk assessment conducted before improvement

Figure 9: Risk assessment matrix before improvement (medium region)

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From the risk assessment matrix of the conventional practise, the risk of

having back pain, hand/finger injury, struck by falling drum/moving forklift is in the

medium region (yellow), which should be further reduced to the low region (as

low as reasonably practicable).

Areas for improvement

To eliminate the necessity of manual lifting, crane lifting, fork lifting. Thus

preventing back pain, hand/finger injury and the possibility of being struck by

falling/swinging drum or moving forklift.

To increase the mobility of the structure by installing fixed castors to the

innovative design

To use another mechanism which makes the cable drum jack up operation less

strenuous, thus preventing ergonomic issues and improves productivity through

reduction in operating manpower and time

b) Analytical Techniques

Figure 10: Cause and effect analysis

We used a fish bone diagram to do a cause-effect analysis and we had

identified four causes of all the above mentioned problems which are Man, Machine,

Method and Environment.

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Figure 11: Pareto principle

The main cause was identified using the pareto principle which is the

Machine. According to the 80-20% principle, we have to tackle the 20% causes

which is the machine (conventional jacks) to solve the 80% effects which are the

back pain and injuries.

Figure 12: Hierarchy of control

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We used the hierarchy of control to come out with the best measures,

Elimination and Engineering Control to improve the conventional jack. By

eliminating the needs of manual lifting, crane lifting, we have successfully remove the

ergonomic, pinch point and suspended/swinging load hazards. Mobility and stability

of the tool have to be improved via engineering control measures.

c) Corrective Actions and Implementation

Alternate solutions

Figure 13: Alternate solutions

Other alternative solutions were considered such as gear jack, rack and

pinion and hydraulic jack.

Recommended solutions

We used a SIFE chart to vote for the best recommended solution in term of

Safety, Innovative, Feasibility and Efficiency. Hydraulic jack scored the highest (20)

among all other alternate solutions.

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Risk assessment conducted after improvement

Figure 14: Risk assessment after improvement (low region)

After the implementation of the innovative tool, we have conducted a risk

assessment and from the RA matrix, it is so obvious that we have successfully

eliminates the risk of being struck by falling/swinging drum or moving forklift and the

risk of having back pain, hand/finger injury has been reduced to low region (green).

Implementation

The innovative tool has been implemented in various projects such as West

Capricorn, West Leo, West Elara, Atwood Condor and ARC-II. The testing period

was 3 months and it is proven successful and has been continuously implemented

until today.

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d) Results Achieved

Tangible results

1. Eliminate hazards due to manual lifting, crane lifting and fork lifting.

2. Provide an accident free workplace.

3. Improve productivity.

4. Portable tool which can be transported to desired workplace with only a single

worker

Intangible results

1. Higher confidence in tool application.

2. Improve workers’ morale.

3. Owners’ satisfaction.

4. Better professional image.

e) Standardisation

Documentation

Figure 15: Documented into RA (JEA-EW-RA-002)

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For standardisation purpose, we have incorporated the use of the innovative

hydraulic cable drum jack into our RA and Safe Work Procedure.

Figure 16: Documented into safe work procedure (JEA-SWP-002)

Adoption and maintenance of new procedures

Figure 17: Maintenance checklist

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We have developed a maintenance checklist in order to ensure periodic

inspection and maintenance would be carried out on the tool.

f) Review and Sustenance

Review for future improvements

Review has been done on the hydraulic jack by collecting users’ feedback

and continuously innovates to improve the hydraulic jack. Innovation never stop here,

in the future, we would like to reduce the height and weight of the hydraulic jack.

Besides, its structural design would be improved so that it is able to be dismantled for

transporting.

Figure 18: Future improvement on structural design

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Team’s next project

Our team’s next innovation project would be the cable pulling automation. The

reason for this selection is because cable pulling is a strenuous task and it was voted

2nd highest in our priority list.

Figure 19: Next innovation project

g) Conclusion

In conclusion, our innovation project has successfully achieved the objectives to:

Eliminate all the hazards at work due to manual lifting, crane lifting and fork

lifting.

Prevent all the work injuries such as back pain, hand/finger injury, struck by

falling/swinging drum or forklift.

Thus achieving zero accident and provide a safe work environment for our

workforce.

We will continuously innovate for continual improvement.