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"Its a miracle that Sailor is still alive," I thought
as I arrived in the ships wardroom pantry. "Machinery [in this
case, a dumbwaiter] doesnt have a conscience when you put body parts in
its way." Nevertheless, the victim aboard this ship had escaped with
all his parts.
My astonishment quickly turned to horror when I learned how the Sailor
had been injured. For openers, he and shipmates for several days had been
putting the dumbwaiters control switch in the jog position. Then they
would hold a bypass button on the slack-cable device (designed to trip the
motor anytime the cable goes slack) while running the dumbwaiter up or
down. The button kept tripping because the cable was bird-nested around
the drum at the top of the trunk.
On the day of the mishap, the Sailor had climbed half inside the
dumbwaiter--something no one ever should do--to clean it. Suddenly, all
the bird-nested cable slipped off the end of the drum. Down went the car,
hitting the Sailor and pinching him between it and the trunk.
I was still mulling over this incident when I got back to my office and
started checking the days message traffic. One of the first messages I
read concerned another Sailor who also had learned the dangers of
dumbwaiters the hard way. This time, the victim was inside the trunk,
under the car, trying to see why it was stuck on the next deck.
Everything was OK until a shipmate decided to load a bunch of dirty
dishes in the car, which freed the tangled cable on the drum. After the
car smacked the Sailor, he had to have stitches in his head, and surgeons
had to fix his hand.
Officials from the Fleet Technical Support Center looked over the
equipment involved in this mishap and came up with a recommendation for
the ship and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Naval Ship Systems
Engineering Station to prevent recurrences. They suggested installing a
lock box over the automatic controls as a means of preventing Sailors from
bypassing these devices when something is wrong. Instead, they would have
to call a maintenance technician.
Although dumbwaiters are machines designed to make shipboard life
easier, these two incidents point out they can be your enemy if you abuse
them. To avoid problems, use these hoists for their intended purpose: to
carry packages, stores, parts, and other items from one deck to another.
Most dumbwaiters have a door that wont open when the equipment is in
operation. Some are watertight; some are fume tight. The control system on
dumbwaiters is automatic once the doors are closed. An over-travel limit
switch stops dumbwaiters in an emergency. Finally, a broken-cable device
keeps the car from falling in case the wire rope fails.
As we learned from the earlier incidents, its also possible to
override these safety devices and operate dumbwaiters manually. However,
you never should do so, except in an emergency. Even then, you should
follow published guidance1.
For More Info...
1 Guidance for operating
dumbwaiters is NSTM 572 (Shipboard Stores and Provisions Handling) and
manufacturers technical manuals.
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