Another serious incident this week in NSW. A collision occurred when an excavator slewed, striking a dozer with the counterweight.
According to the NSW Resources Regulator, the dozer operator called up the excavator operator who confirmed the message. The dozer came up beside the excavator and as it was reversing, the excavator started to slew. The counterweight made contact with the dozer, damaging the ladder and door. The door was damaged and required additional force to open it. No injuries were sustained.
The Regulator has warned mines regarding the maintenance of positive communication at mine sites.
Details of positive communications requirements such as equipment number, message content and confirmation should be detailed in mine procedures and training.
All operators must follow the correct positive communications even when working with the same workers over a long period of time. Experience does not remove the need for positive communications.
This week the NSW mining industry advised that 37 reportable incidents had occurred at mines across the state.
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Sick sensors have collision awareness systems for both machines that can prevent this happening. The excavator operator would have known exactly where the dozers position was and the dozer would have known it was to close. https://youtu.be/jNRBQT-9BxY
Thanks Richard…very good point. The adoption of sensor technologies could have certainly controlled this situation.
Common sense works and it’s free.
Common sense does work…when its working. Cognitive capacity, regardless of experience level, age, IQ is depleted by a number of physiological factors: diet, stress, anxiety, fatigue and situational complexity. As long as we have biological control modules (humans) making decisions and taking actions, we need to keep in mind how difficult it is for humans to remain attentive and vigilant. Technology-enabled safety solutions can supplement the common sense of the biological control module to help increase the probability that we all go safely home at the end of the day.