Weekly incident summary - week ending 2 July 2021
32 reportable incidents, 2 summarised below
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Dangerous incident | IncNot0040210
Underground coal mine
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Summary: During a maintenance period, two separate crews were working on the longwall belt. The first crew, at 5 cut through, isolated and locked out using the remote isolation system. The second crew, at 3 cut through, later isolated and locked out at a different location, using the same remote isolation system. When the first crew removed their locks and isolation, the deputy called the control room operator to start the belt. The pre-start warning sounded and the belt began moving while a person at 3 cut through was standing on the belt. Another worker pulled the lanyard which operated a switch and stopped the belt. There were no injuries. Preliminary investigations indicate the remote isolation point at 3 cut through had internal damage, making it ineffective.
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Comments to industry: Mines should review the maintenance and testing of remote isolation systems. Workers should be trained to identify when remote isolation has been successfully applied and when it has failed.
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Dangerous incident | IncNot0040223
Underground coal mine
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Summary: A deputy, carrying out underground conveyor belt inspection, found hot embers and a small flame. Both were caused by an empty 20 litre oil drum wedged under the moving conveyor return belt.
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Comments to industry: Historically, fires in underground coal mines have led to significant human tragedy and loss. Any fire should be extinguished as quickly as possible. Mine operators should ensure that risk control measures to prevent the occurrence of fires, and the escalation and response to underground fires, are implemented and remain effective. Inspection regimes, housekeeping standards and emergency response procedures should be routinely examined to ensure minimum standards are met or exceeded.
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Other publications of interest
These incidents are included for your review. The NSW Resources Regulator does not endorse the findings or recommendations of these incidents. It is your legal duty to exercise due diligence to ensure the business complies with its work health and safety obligations.
National (other, non-fatal)
Publication: Resources Safety and Health, Queensland (Mineral Mines and Quarries)
High potential incidents – April periodical
Details
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You can find all our guidance and incident related publications (that is, safety alerts, safety bulletins, incident information releases, weekly incident summaries and investigation reports) on our website: resourcesregulator.nsw.gov.au
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*While the majority of incidents are reported and recorded within a week of the event, some are notified outside this time period. The incidents in this report therefore have not necessarily occurred in a one week period. All newly recorded incidents, whatever the incident date, are reviewed by the Chief Inspector and senior staff each week and summarised in this report. For more comprehensive statistical data refer to our Safety Performance Measures Reports and our Business Activity Reports.
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