Heavy mobile equipment (HME) operators crashed into and severely damaged multiple light vehicles at Queensland mines.
Resources Safety and Health Queensland (RSHQ) recently investigated two high potential incidents.
One accident involved a dozer that reversed into a utility vehicle, running over the cabin and rear tray. The roof, windscreen and each door was destroyed in the process.
“Two dozer operators arrived at the work location in a light vehicle (LV), parked up and commenced dozer operations. One of the dozers subsequently reversed onto the unoccupied LV,” an RSHQ safety notice said.
The other incident involved a Hitachi excavator that collided with the passenger side of a different dual-cab ute. The roof and both front and rear passenger doors were severely damaged from the impact.
“A second worker arrived in a LV and was unable to access the usual LV park-up location due to the presence of an operating front end loader and a dump truck. The worker parked the LV close to, and behind, the unoccupied excavator and exited the LV,” the notice said.
“The excavator operator restarted the excavator to move it to another location and reversed into the unoccupied LV.”
Investigators discovered the following:
- operators were inexperienced
- there was ineffective supervision
- operators worked quickly due to production pressures
- the dozer was not equipped with a functioning reversing camera
- HME operators did not ensure the path of travel was clear before reversing.
They made the following recommendations:
- conduct workplace risk assessments to identify safe locations for impromptu parking when required
- mine design and operations layout should provide for designated, safe LV parking locations in operational areas
- implement collision avoidance technology to independently detect the proximity of threats to operator field of vision
- routinely inspect and monitor LV parking locations to ensure they are appropriately parked in designated parking areas
- operators should not rely on positive communication protocols and take other actions like shutting down HME while LVs are nearby
- train and assess HME and LV operators in complying with the correct parking requirements, and understanding blind spots and the risks of parking behind HME
- site senior executives should review site critical controls and processes for operation and LV parking adjacent to HME in active production areas.
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