The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is considering updating an information bulletin issued in August that warned about the hazards of unexpected release of excavator buckets attached with new quick-coupling devices.

Contractors should be aware of the potential problem with the couplers when they are considering buying new machinery, says David Ippolito, director of OSHA’s office of Service and Technology Assessment. "One of the issues they have to look at is who will be doing the connections, and how they should be trained," he says.