From 20 December 2024, hardened steel hammers have been banned from all Adbri sites.
Following an incident where a quarry worker received a serious injury while conducting maintenance work with a hardened steel hammer, Adbri has prohibited hardened steel hammers across all of its sites.
In this incident, the hardened steel hammer was being used on steel plant when a 7mm chip broke off, penetrated his trousers, and entered his knee, embedding itself deep in his leg.
Using hardened steel tools on hardened steel can cause the steel to shatter or splinter. Steel fragments can fly off at high speed and cause injuries or death. Anybody in the vicinity of the flying steel is at risk. Soft steel hammers are the acceptable alternative.