One of the findings of SIMRAC Project GAP 520 dated March 1999 ('Investigate safety of rail vehicles and systems operating in South African gold mines') was that about 20% of accidents involving locomotives and rolling stock were during coupling and de-coupling operations. In most cases a limb is squashed between the buffers of the units being coupled/de-coupled. This project was a general study of the existing coupling systems and a general assessment of the coupling systems against the ergonomics requirements for safer operation or use
Reference:
Van der Walt, PG, et al. 2000. Coupling systems and designs in use in the Gold and Platinum sector. Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee, GAP 703, November, 2000, pp 1-120
Van der Walt, P., Naude, J., Lubbe, S., Hutcheson, P., Meyer, J., & Spencer, K. (2000). Coupling systems and designs in use in the Gold and Platinum sector. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/1807
Van der Walt, PG, J Naude, SW Lubbe, PJ Hutcheson, JP Meyer, and KC Spencer. "Coupling systems and designs in use in the Gold and Platinum sector." (2000): http://hdl.handle.net/10204/1807
Van der Walt P, Naude J, Lubbe S, Hutcheson P, Meyer J, Spencer K, Coupling systems and designs in use in the Gold and Platinum sector; 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/1807 .
