Customer
AEP
Highlights
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Immediate Trip Hazard Marked in Active Work Zone -
Field Leadership Promoted Elimination Over Mitigation -
Best Practice Shared Across Projects
From Hazard Marking to Hazard Removal: Field Safety Lessons from a Station Wreck-Out Project
The Challenge
During a station decommissioning (wreck-out) project, a crew removed above-ground structures from their concrete foundations. However, several of the exposed foundations were small, low-profile, and difficult to spot—especially in a busy work zone where visibility is often obstructed by equipment, materials, or debris.
These unmarked remnants posed a significant tripping and equipment hazard, particularly for crews mobilizing heavy machinery or moving quickly between tasks. Without clear visual cues, the risk of driving over or walking into these hazards was high.
The Solution
Two levels of action were considered and implemented:
- Immediate Mitigation:
- The team recommended using safety cones or visible markers to flag each exposed foundation as soon as a structure was removed.
- This ensured that all personnel could easily identify and avoid the hazards during active site work.
- Best Practice Recommendation:
- Going beyond mitigation, the team emphasized removing the foundations entirely before shifting to the next task.
- This not only prevented exposure to a known hazard but eliminated it from the site altogether—removing the potential for future oversight or complacency.
Key Benefits
- Reduced Risk of Trip and Equipment Incidents: Marking the hazards helped avoid immediate accidents during crew movement.
- Promoted Field Hazard Visibility Culture: Reinforced the idea that if a hazard is visible, it can be avoided—and if it’s removed, it can’t cause harm.
- Encouraged Proactive Work Sequencing: Removing hazards before task-switching keeps sites cleaner, safer, and more efficient.
- Supported Long-Term Site Safety: Ensured future crews or subcontractors wouldn’t inherit hidden dangers from previous phases.
The Results
- No incidents occurred related to the exposed foundations.
- Crews incorporated cone-marking as standard protocol on similar projects.
- The concept of “mitigate first, eliminate where possible” was shared in safety stand-downs as a best practice.
- The case is now used to reinforce field leadership responsibilities around hazard ownership.
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