Bowling Center Safety

[Aslan]

Recently, a woman died at a bowling center in Davenport, IA.
https://www.kcrg.com/content/news/Police-say-woman-died-at-Davenport-hotel-bowling-alley-512462542.html

Preliminary investigation isn't concluded.

BUT...just a reminder to all those "bowling center workers/proprietors"...

Lockout/Tagout (Control of Hazardous Energy)
Please be sure that if you or your employees are going to me working around the pin-setters...that they are locked out and can't be activated while you or the employee are performing the maintenance/work. Many bowling center employees have died after being caught in those machines.

And, if you're going to be working on anything electrical, you need to shutdown the power and lock it out.

Even little things...I don't know how many times I've seen center employees running on the cover over the ball return...along the gutters...to go clear a pin from the lanes. While I appreciate their speedy resolution of our issue...all it takes is one slip, one turn of the ankle...and that kid isn't going to be able to do anything but sit behind the counter for a month or two waiting for his/her ankle sprain/break to heal.

Injuries are expensive. Medical bills, worker's comp insurance, replacing injured staff...not cheap. If you're not already doing it, you should be taking a look at your safety programs at your center. You should be doing some kind of safety training on a regular basis. You should have safety data sheets for any hazardous chemicals in your workplace. If you have 10 or more employees, you should have injury logs and records. You should have a lockout/tagout program and your staff that works in and around those machines should be trained.

I know running a center isn't the cash cow it used to be...but a little prevention can be profitable. It doesn't cost a ton of money to work safely...but it can cost a great deal if you don't.

[boatman37]

In addition to LOTO (lock out tag out) remember that there is also 'stored energy'. not familiar with how pin setters work but stored energy is the gravitational force. think of a jackstand under a car that is jacked up. you may be working on a hydraulic press and lock out the electrical but when the press is raised there is still stored energy. placing a wood block or a stop of some sort will protect you from that stored energy being released. in the scenario of a pin setter think of placing a piece of 4x4 under it to prevent it from falling

[Phonetek]

It's always sad to hear about injuries and deaths caused by the machines. There are always "freak accidents" but the vast majority had ways of being avoided. It's always would've , could've and should've. First, if you aren't properly trained then you have no business in conducting unsupervised repairs. Second, even if you are a veteran mechanic you can never get cocky. Nobody is Superman and the machine won't simply crumble because your caught in it and you'll walk away without a scratch. The rest is just common sense and respecting the mechanical and electrical aspects of the equipment. If you follow those things then you can have a successful, long and harmless career servicing the pinsetters/pinspotters and retire healthy with all your appendages in tact.

Counter people also have to pay close attention to the absent minded customers who feel they don't need to report a pin or ball in the gutter and decide to go get it themselves. They need to know where the emergency stop is and how to use it! I've posted about a little kid in the past who decided to sprint down a lane toward the machine. More recently I had an older teenage girl nearly 20 who got down on all fours and started crawling down the gutter cap to get her ball. She got half way down before I seen her due to one of our pillars obstructing my sight. IDIOT she was! I gave her a good chewing out. Her ball was past the sensor and the sweep would have nailed her, she has no idea that I saved her life. All I got in return was a dumb look and she was whispering to her friends when I walked away probably saying what a jerk I was. LOL Lucky for them I was paying attention or all that would be left of them would be a news article.

I gotta say it was rather unique to see someone crawling on the gutter cap on all fours but I'll keep the rest of the comment to myself. =)