Understanding Causes of Leaking Plant and Equipment on Construction Sites That Can Lead to Soil and Groundwater Contamination

Abstract

Spills were inventoried and studied on a large construction site with more than 300 plant items, moving more than a million cubic meters of soil, over a one‐year period, to identify the common factors for the root causes of the majority of spills. Spills from loaders and excavators were most prevalent, which were involved in approximately 40 percent of all spill events. The majority of spills were small (30 percent) at 20 L in volume or less. The components on the plant and equipment releasing these fluids were hydraulic hoses, o‐rings (within the hydraulic systems), and hydraulic hose couplings (including failed crimped ends), which represented 50 percent of the specific spill sources on these machines. Of the 14 root cause descriptions, four could explain 60 percent of the spill incident causes. These were: “Equipment Parts Defective,” “Incorrect Procedure Followed,” “Impact With an Object,” and “Design Did Not Anticipate Conditions.” Based on these conclusions, recommendations for reducing spills are to increase rigor of inspection of hydraulic hose fittings, increase the sharing of lessons learned from spill events, and enhance the reward and recognition of operators actively preventing and reducing spills. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.