Authorities investigated how light machinery overturned and crushed an employee.
WorkSafe officials recently examined what circumstances led to a 2.7 tonne utility compactor falling off a tilt tray truck and pinning the operator.
Investigators found the equipment, which operates on two metal drums, lost traction and toppled onto its side due to a wet tray surface.
“The compactor’s metal drums may not have had enough traction on the tilted metal tray to prevent it from sliding. The tilt tray was also wet due to the overnight rain, reducing the level of friction compactor’s metal drums had on the tilt tray,” they said in a safety alert.
“The compactor was being unloaded when it lost traction and toppled onto its side. The worker was pinned under the roll over protection frame, causing multiple injuries to their lower body.”
They also discovered the incident occurred due to a lack of safety precautions in Darwin’s eastern suburb of East Arm.
“A risk assessment was not conducted prior to the unloading of the compactor and a safe work procedure for this type of work was not in place. The winch fitted to the tilt tray truck was not used during the unloading,” the alert said.
The following recommendations were made:
- develop safe work procedures in consultation with workers
- always use equipment and mechanical systems provided to load and unload unmanned machinery
- provide employees with appropriate training, instruction, information and supervision to understand and use safe work procedures
- perform a risk assessment before commencing work, especially if conditions (including environmental conditions) in the workplace change
- if manufacturer instructions allow machinery to be operated during loading and unloading, have another person operate the winch when machinery is driven on or off the tray.
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