New South Wales mine safety officials have issued an alert after a Lake Macquarie underground miner suffered minor burns from an electric shock last year.
The electrician’s right hand and forearm were injured after making direct contact with a live 11000 volt terminal. He had attempted to remove a high voltage fuse from the control transformer installed in a section isolator in December , 2014.
New South Wales Government mine safety officials said the workers involved admitted they were distracted at the time and were not focussed on the task at hand.
New South Wales Trade and Investment have issued a safety alert in response to the incident.
It is urging mine operators to review their operational risk assessments for high voltage switching, and said mines should review and update their high voltage management plans, and assess electric shock protocols.
A second alert has been issued by NSW Trade and Investment after two electrical workers were killed and two other people suffered serious injuries when a high-current fault occurred in an 11kV oil-insulated combined-fuse switch fuse unit that they were maintaining.
The February incident occurred in a non-mining installation in Western Australia, however this type of switchgear is widely used in NSW mines.
The incident remains under investigation by industry regulators for that jurisdiction.
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