Weekly incident summary
15 November 2019 | ISR19-44 | Go to website
To report an incident call 1300 814 609 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
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Week ending Friday 8 November 2019
High level summary of emerging trends and our recommendations to operators.
Reportable incidents: 37
Summarised incidents: 7
This incident summary provides information on reportable incidents and safety advice for the NSW mining industry.
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Dangerous incident | IncNot 0035968
Summary: An empty dump truck was being driven down a mine decline when the operator felt vibration in the drive train. He stopped the truck to investigate and saw a fire on the drive shaft. The fire was put out with a hand-held extinguisher. No injuries were reported.
Recommendations to industry: Our position on fires on mobile plant is that all fires on mobile plant are avoidable and preventable. Mine operators should be aware of our expectations with regard to fires on mobile plant as outlined in the recently published position paper Preventing fires on mobile plant.
Dangerous incident | IncNot 0035970
Summary: About 2 am, while driving an empty haul truck down a ramp, the driver had to shut down the truck due to a critical engine alarm. While the driver was in the process of parking up and shutting down, an orange flash was seen coming from the left rear of the truck. The driver heard a tyre deflating. The driver exited the cabin and attempted to lower the boarding ladder, however it would not operate. The driver re-entered the cabin which was full of smoke. The driver activated the fire suppression system and left the cabin. With some difficulty, due to poor visibility, the driver was able to descend the emergency ladder to the ground. The fire was extinguished by site water trucks.The driver was taken to hospital for assessment as a precaution.
Recommendations to industry: Our position on fires on mobile plant is that all fires on mobile plant are avoidable and preventable. Mine operators should be aware of our expectations with regard to fires on mobile plant as outlined in the recently published position paper Preventing fires on mobile plant. Mine operators should also review training packages for heavy plant to ensure they include the application of emergency escape procedures.
Dangerous incident | IncNot 0035963
Summary: During blasting operations, a 50 millimetre piece of fly rock landed on the roof of an adjacent building outside the exclusion zone.
Recommendatios to industry: Persons conducting business or undertakings (PCBUs) should be aware of clauses 26 and 31 and Schedule 2 of the Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Regulation 2014. Mine operators are reminded that appropriate systems must be in place to review and audit the explosives control plan and blasting work practices to ensure that exclusion zone requirements are adequate. See our publications:
High potential incident | IncNot 0035985
Summary: A drill operator was retrieving a production drill from the surface workshop after a service. To tram the machine from the workshop bay, the operator removed the barricade tape at the entrance and went back to the cabin of the machine. While the drill operator was preparing to begin tramming, a fitter parked a light vehicle in front of the drill without the drill operator's knowledge and walked away. The light vehicle was not visible from the cabin of the drill as the machine was in the tramming position with the boom and carousel raised. The drill operator moved the drill forward, colliding with the parked light vehicle.
Recommendatios to industry: The risk of collision when vision is restricted is well documented and reasonably foreseeable. Suitable risk controls such as cameras and vehicle escorts should be used when tramming large items of plant with restricted visibility around mine sites. When dealing with the risk of a collision involving mobile plant, the hierarchy of controls should be followed. Systems such as collision detection and avoidance systems, visual aids and segregation should be implemented before relying on procedural controls.
Dangerous incident | IncNot 0035992
Summary: During the commissioning of a single point isolation valve (SPIV) at the maingate, the SPIV lever broke from the main manifold resulting in the operator’s right forearm being covered in solsenic fluid. It was identified that the bolts failed.
Recommendations to industry: An escape of pressurised fluid in the workplace represents a failure of a risk control to a major hazard (pressurised fluids) that may cause serious or fatal injury. Mine operators are reminded that effective isolation and energy dissipation is a critical risk control when working on high pressure fluid systems.
We have published the following safety alerts, bulletins and guides on this topic:
Dangerous incident | IncNot 0035997
Summary: A light vehicle was driving up a rehabilitated slope towards a contour drain. The depth of the contour drain was not visible from the driver’s seat with a drop-off on the other side of about one metre. When the vehicle crested the contour drain, it continued over the edge and overturned. Four people were in the vehicle at the time. There were no injuries.
Recommendations to industry: Vehicle operators must remain vigilant of the risk of rollovers and should be reminded of the importance of wearing seatbelts. When planning tasks and travel paths, supervisors must consider rollover hazards.
Dangerous incident | IncNot 0036010
Summary: A dredge on a river caught on fire in the engine compartment. The dredge operator followed the fire procedure, closed all the hatches and used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. The operator was not injured.
Recommendations to industry: Our position on fires on mobile plant is that all fires on mobile plant are avoidable and preventable. Mine operators should be aware of our expectations with regard to fires on mobile plant as outlined in the recently published position paper Preventing fires on mobile plant.
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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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