The mast from a blast-hole drill rig undergoing maintenance was removed and placed horizontally on stands. The hydraulics had been disconnected from the hydraulically operated break out (HOBO) wrench actuating cylinder, and the maintenance fitter was swinging the HOBO wrench out of the way to work on the base assembly.
Repositioning himself to release the lifting chain, the fitter slipped and grabbed the HOBO wrench, pulling it over-centre and causing it to swing downwards, pinning his lower left leg between the wrench and the carousel resulting in serious injury, as depicted in the re-enactment photo below. (Source Qld Govt – Department of Natural Resources and Mines)
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A tyre fitter’s fingers have been partially amputated after an accident while operating a hydraulic bead breaker. (Source: Australian Mining)
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Close Call as a dozer hits a natural gas line at a surface sand and gravel plant in the USA. The dozer was cutting a drainage ditch in a roadway berm when the accident occurred. The dozer blade ruptured a 16-inch-diameter, high-pressure natural gas transmission line, leaving an 18-inch long gash in the pipe. There was no explosion or fire, however the gas blew out all of the windows in the dozer cab and peppered the operator with flying rocks and debris. The operator was able to exit the cab and run from the area, was treated for minor abrasions, and returned to work later that day. (Source: Aggregates Manager – USA).
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Resources Safety has developed a frequently asked questions page to assist industry with information about explosives magazine lighting. (Source: Govt WA – Department of Mines and Petroleum).
Topics covered include:
- What the different lighting options are
- What should be considered
- What the requirements are.
A serious near miss incident occurred when an equipment operator was grazed by the front wheel of a Cat 785 dump truck while he was on the ground conducting pre-start checks on the vehicle. Another operator had incorrectly assumed he was allocated this same truck and after completing his pre-start checks had entered the cabin and drove the truck away from the Go-Line without realising another operator was inspecting the same truck. (Source: NSW Dept of Industry Resources and Energy).
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Rescue crews on Monday continued trying to reach two miners buried since Friday 3rd June 2016 in the collapse of a gravel pit in Mississippi. The men were operating an excavator and a dump truck at the bottom of a pit in Crystal Springs when they were “engulfed” by a wall of sludge-like material. Officials believe the men are trapped under about 10 feet of mud, sand and gravel. (Source: NBC News web).
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On 31st May 2016 a loader operator was filling a bin when the loader’s bucket hit the upper body of a miner who entered the area unannounced. (Source: Aggregate Research – MSHA).
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A contract tyre fitter (IP) working on a hired loading shovel suffered bruising to his right arm and left leg after becoming trapped beneath a foam filled tyre and wheel assembly, when the tyre fell onto him after he unbolted the wheel in preparation for changing the tyre. (Source: MineEx).
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A timely reminder after a fatality occurred at a quarry when a dump truck was tipping waste material over the crest of a dump head and the slope failed. This alert highlights the risk of working near the crest and toes of slopes in quarries and provides advice on how to reduce the risk of slope failure. (Source: WorkSafe Victoria).
Purchase CMPA’s Publication – Working Safely with Geotechnical Risks in Quarries.
WorkSafe is calling on all farmers to make safety their absolute priority following a horror period in which three men died in separate farming incidents over three days. (Source: WorkSafe Victoria).
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