Across South Africa's gold, platinum, coal and iron ore operations, maintenance teams work every day around conveyors, crushers, suspended loads and rotating machinery. This guide breaks down where hand injuries happen, and how engineering controls keep hands out of the danger zone.
Mining is one of the most maintenance-intensive industries in South Africa. Conveyors, crushers, pumps, gearboxes and processing systems run continuously, and keeping them running means workers routinely position equipment, guide suspended loads, and align heavy components by hand.
Gloves and PPE remain part of any safety program, but they cannot stop a crush point, a swinging load, or a rotating pulley. The most effective strategies reduce exposure before contact ever happens — which is where engineering controls and hands free tools come in.
Most incidents trace back to one of five recurring hazard types, repeated across conveyors, crushers, lifting operations and confined spaces.
Where moving equipment meets a fixed surface — conveyor rollers, crusher liners, structural steel, gearboxes.
Cranes and lifting gear introduce swinging, rotating or drifting loads that draw workers into the crush zone.
Pulleys, rollers, mills, motors and fans — accidental contact during maintenance without proper isolation.
Positioning heavy components in confined spaces traps hands between moving and stationary objects.
Standing in the path of moving equipment, suspended loads or stored energy during rigging and lifting.
Without engineered alternatives, workers instinctively use their hands to guide or stabilise equipment — placing them inside the hazard zone.
The common factor isn't equipment failure — it's routine maintenance that puts hands within reach of moving machinery.
Roller replacement, idler maintenance, belt tracking and pulley work put technicians close to rotating rollers and pinch points during routine inspections.
Push/Pull Tools position rollers and align components from a safer distance.
Jaw plates, cone liners and wear plates are heavy, awkward, and located in confined maintenance areas — a recipe for crush hazards.
Push/Pull Tools guide liners and wear plates into position without direct hand contact.
Cranes lift the load, but workers are often responsible for guiding it into position — swinging, drifting or rotating loads pull hands into the line of fire.
Safety Taglines maintain load control from outside the hazard path.
After a lift, crews traditionally walk toward the load to recover the tagline — unnecessary exposure to a "completed" task that isn't fully clear.
Tagline Retrievers recover lifting accessories without approaching the load.
Confined space and limited visibility push workers toward manual handling — which raises the consequences of any pinch point.
Push/Pull Tools help position pumps and pipework in restricted access areas.
Multiple contractors, compressed timeframes, and simultaneous rigging work make shutdowns the highest-risk period on any site.
Combined tool use reduces manual interaction across every concurrent task.
Instead of relying on PPE alone, these tools change how the task is physically performed — keeping hands out of pinch points, load paths and crush zones by design.
Extended reach and control for positioning heavy equipment during maintenance.
Load control for lifting crews, from outside the hazardous load path.
Safe recovery of lifting accessories once the lift is complete.
Prevention starts before a tool ever touches equipment — with hazard identification, planning, and consistent use of engineering controls.
Run a task-specific hazard assessment: where will hands be positioned, can equipment move unexpectedly, is a hands free method available?
Use engineered positioning tools instead of guiding heavy components into place by hand.
Lock out equipment, confirm zero energy state, and avoid manual positioning of rollers wherever possible.
Isolate equipment fully and guide liners and wear components using hands free positioning methods.
Use taglines, establish exclusion zones, and never stand beneath a suspended load.
Plan lifts, permits and engineering controls in advance — shutdowns compress risk into a short window.
Eliminate the habit of standing beside swinging loads or between moving components.
Verify isolation, use proper lifting equipment, and avoid improvised tools.
Plan equipment movement and use positioning tools instead of manual stabilisation.
Make hands free tools the default method, not the exception, across positioning, lifting and retrieval.
Our specialists can help identify the right hands free safety solutions for your maintenance and lifting activities.