Respond to and investigate a broken needle event

What is going on

A needle has broken on machine 14 during a bar tack on the Merriwa Holdings canvas aprons, the second break on that machine in a week. The machinist recovered two fragments but cannot find the third. She has stopped the machine and set aside the bundles nearby. The Production Manager wants to know whether the cause is the needle size chosen for heavy canvas, the machine timing or the operator method. The client audits needle control records, so the event must be handled and documented exactly to procedure, and the earlier event in the register must be considered in the investigation.

Your brief

Manage the immediate response to the broken needle, quarantine and scan the affected product, record the event in both registers, investigate the cause using the previous register entry and machine records, and recommend corrective actions with owners and due dates.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Read the Broken Needle and Sharps Control Procedure and list the immediate actions for a missing fragment, including the quarantine distance and the metal detector scan.
• Complete a broken needle card record showing the fragments recovered, the fragment missing, the search performed and who signed.
• Identify every bundle and garment to be quarantined and scanned, record the scan result for each and state the disposition for any garment that alarms.
• Complete the Incident and Hazard Report Form for the event and create the matching entry in the WHS Incident and Hazard Register with a risk rating from the WHS Management Plan matrix.
• Create a Quality Inspection Log entry for the affected work order recording the garments scanned, defects found and the disposition.
• Review register entry WHS-26-031 for the earlier break on machine 14 and compare needle size, operation, operator and corrective action with this event.
• Consult the Production Manager and the machinist and write an investigation summary covering sequence, conditions, controls that worked and contributing factors.
• Recommend corrective actions with an owner and due date for each, and draft the toolbox talk message for the next sewing floor talk.

What someone in this role would produce

• Broken needle card and quarantine scan record
• Incident and Hazard Report Form and WHS register entry
• Quality Inspection Log entry
• Investigation summary with corrective actions