Stockpile Collapses

The latest safety alert from the Department of Primary Industry (NSW), Industry & Investment, Mine Safety Operations Branch looks at a stockpile collapse on a loader driver.

INCIDENT

A 17 year old trainee front end loader driver suffered deep lacerations to the left forearm when the face of a stockpile he was loading, collapsed and crashed through the front windscreen. Material from the stockpile, consisting of shale and gravel, partly filled the loader cabin.

CIRCUMSTANCES

Material from the stockpile, approximately 6m in height, was being loaded to fi ll a nearby screen. The trainee front end loader driver, who was working alone at the time, was loading from the edges of the stockpile at first and then decided to remove material from the vertical face of the stockpile. The stockpile collapsed and material crashed through the front window injuring the trainee. The trainee then ran to a nearby property approximately 400m away to seek attention and call an ambulance.

INVESTIGATION

After investigation, there were several contributing factors that came to light. These included:

• The trainee had been operating loaders for less than a week. The log book contained two entries that involved operating the loader.
• There was no supervision at the time of the incident. The production manager was off site at the time of the incident.
• An excavator, that was used to manage the stockpiles to a workable height, was offsite having repairs done at the time of the incident.
• The trainee, although inducted into the site, did not understand the hazards associated with stockpiles.
• The workplace inspection checklist did not include hazards associated with stockpiles.
• There was no formal training program in place for trainee plant operators.
• Emergency procedures failed to work as planned.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Below are recommendations to help prevent similar incidents occurring in the future:

• Trainee workers must be supervised at all times until they are deemed competent for the task.
• Stockpile heights need to be managed according to the nature of the stockpile material. Where the stockpile material is likely to “hang-up”, an excavator or dozer should be used to break-up the stockpile face to ensure it is safe to load.
• There is a need to include stockpile hazards on a workplace inspection checklist and undertake the inspection at appropriate intervals.
• Responsibilities for supervisors or production managers need to be clearly defined and include the supervision of trainees.

Emergency procedures should be reviewed regularly to ensure they are appropriate. Consider conducting an emergency drill to ensure the emergency response will go to plan.

A copy of the Safety Alert can be downloaded from www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/minerals/safety/safety-alerts

IMPORTANCE OF WORK SAFELY TRAINING

A key ambition of the CMPA is to improve operating standards and ensure a continued focus on health and safety in the workplace. The CMPA has produced a range of reference manuals and operator checklists that are a great source of information and improving procedures.

Work Safely Training is conducted over two separate days, in following weeks. Employees are shown the essential requirements of understanding, operating and working safely alongside their fellow workers.

This involves all the aspects throughout the quarry site from site safety procedures, personal safety, operational safety and the prevention of incidents.

Wayne Douglas of E.B.Mawsons & Sons Pty Ltd has found the ‘quicker’ we can have new employees involved with this training course – the better their understanding is developed and this helps with their day to day well being, participation and performance.

All employees are also actively involved in OHS meetings, with each quarry site meeting regularly in which all site employees attend the meeting. Therefore attending the Work Safely course reinforces our company’s approach to safety as they ‘marry’ up to each other.

The number one priority for E.B.Mawsons and Sons Pty Ltd is safety and therefore this course is mandatory for all Mawson’s quarry and maintenance workshop employees.

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