Safety optimization of tools for access to the ships of the port of Calais - CCI Côte d'Opale
The CCI Côte d'Opale wanted to add value, optimize and develop the equipment already in place, to ensure the safety of goods and people in the operation and maintenance of access equipment for ships under Its control.
Based on the fundamental principles of the "Machines" 2006/42/CE directive, applicable since 2005 on all the new equipment installed across the French territory, Expert-Méca was mandated to perform an operational safety study for access equipments to ships, vehicle gangways and pedestrian gangways, in the Port of Calais.
In summary, the study consisted of:
- Identifying as exhaustively as possible the human risks, inherent to the operating mode and the maintenance operations of the structural elements and the components of the kinematic chains of these tools, and to assign criticality factors to them;
- Discussing the optimisation and establishling the consistency of all the measures adopted by the operator to ensure that these risks are controlled.
The corrective actions taken particularly involve the design and sizing of tools, periodic technical inspections, control of operating conditions, and maintenance and monitoring measures, which together must guarantee the integrity of the structures and mechanisms of this equipment during operation.