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Drill rig breaches highwall windrow
A drill rig at an open cut coal mine trammed over and through a highwall windrow resulting in the machine straddling the windrow with one track suspended over the edge of the highwall.
During the incident, on the night shift of 26 June 2018, a drill rig operator was repositioning a drill to a face row hole near a highwall. The operator was using the global positioning system (GPS) of the drill to set up over the hole when the rig travelled over and through the windrow. On straddling the windrow, the machine was no longer able to propel itself forward and came to a halt with the right hand track suspended over the highwall.
The operator was able to safely dismount the drill with no physical injuries and called for assistance. For the full report and recommendations go to our website or download the pdf below.
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Windrow management and demarcation
The Resources Regulator has seen an increase in notifiable incidents related to equipment breaching windrows. Windrow breaches place operators at serious risk. These incidents have occurred at multiple sites, all while performing different tasks.
Circumstances
Windrows are established on haul roads, dumps and in proximity to highwalls where there is the potential for a piece of mobile equipment to drive off an edge. The mine operator has requirements under work health and safety legislation to manage and controls risks associated with roads and other vehicle operating areas. Assessing the risks will help the mine operator take the correct action to eliminate the risk or, where this is not reasonably practicable, minimise the risks. As part of this process consideration must be given to the roads or other vehicle operating areas principal hazard management plan requirements in schedule 2 of the Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Rites) Regulation 2014.
To read the full report and recommendations go to our website or download the pdf below.
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Rib failures in underground coal mines
The NSW Resources Regulator has been notified of several recent incidents in which strata failure, particularly rib failures, have resulted in mine workers being placed at risk. Three of these incidents below occurred within a six-week period.
The regulator has reviewing these incidents and the circumstances of other recent rib failure events.
Contributing factors identified include:
- failure to manage ribs over the lifecycle of the roadway
- inadequate support of ribs especially with changing rib height
- inappropriate support of ribs
- support not installed to prepared support plans
- failure to respond to triggers in the mine TARPs and plans.
In each case the potential for fatal injuries existed. To read the full report and recommendations go to our website or download the pdf below.
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