Falls are the highest cause of fatalities in construction in Australia and the new Cat excavator design is aimed at eliminating the falling risk for its operators, helping to keep the site a safe place.

No matter how many safety procedures are followed on the worksite, the chances of injury are always high. The number one cause of injury on site is falls, ranging from small trips to life threatening falls with over 25,000 incidents reported in 2016-17.

The number of Safe Work fall incident reports has stayed mostly unchanged over a 17 year period with only a 6% decrease since 2000. This is vastly different to the 27% drop in reports for body stressing over the same time period. Any and all improvements in the area of fall mitigation are desperately needed if we are to ensure the safety of our workers.

Falls from plant while conducting maintenance checks and repairs is a major cause of injury, with the potential for fatalities. This is due to the dangerous nature of the checks, operators must climb around their machine to reach various engine parts. Maintenance on excavators in particular can be a dangerous task with the design of the machine putting operators in harm's way.

Thankfully, the construction industry is seeing massive developments in safety technology that can help improve the safety standards of machinery and worksites. As construction industries around the world boom, the need for new machinery with newer technology is high. Industry leaders, such as Caterpillar, are constantly looking for the next thing that not only sets their machine apart from the rest, but enables the operator to do their best job.

WesTrac has released the new Cat Next Generation Excavators

The new Cat Next Generation Excavators ranging from 20 to 36 tonne, including the 320, 320GC, 323, 330, 336GC and 336 all of which feature 100% ground level daily maintenance. This is a major breakthrough in the design of excavators, enabling operators to safely conduct all daily maintenance checks with two feet on the ground.

With the new Cat 320 and 336 range designs you can:

Pull the dipstick

Check the coolant

Inspect the fuel water separator

Empty the fuel tank drains

Top up the wiper fluid

Change a battery

Refill the DEF tank

Dozens of other maintenance checks

The Cat Next Generation Excavators also come equipped with E-Fence Technology, which protects the equipment and worksite from damage. The E-Fence technology sets automatic boundaries, stopping the excavator from damaging surrounding utilities or construction and reducing over-swinging and over-digging.

There is also an optional 360° visibility feature on the Cat Next Generation Excavators which increases the safety of the operator, surrounding people and equipment. The 360° visibility feature allows the operator to visualise objects and people in one view, increasing visibility and eliminating blind spots.

Safer machines mean safer, more productive operations

The best thing about these new safety features is that they save you money in the long run. Safer is smarter when you consider all the costs you avoid by preventing accidents and injuries, and the expenses that come with them. When you don’t have operators injuring themselves you don’t have lost production, litigation or replacement worker training.

The only thing left to do now is give the team at WesTrac a call to learn more about the benefits of the Cat Next Generation Excavators. With branches throughout Western Australia, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory that provide comprehensive whole-of-life equipment management solutions, you’ll always feel looked after. You can submit an enquiry for the excavators and find a list of branches here or you can give WesTrac a call on 1300 88 10 64.