An incident at a Central Queensland coal mine where a bulldozer reversed into a ute has led to a call for the better enforcement of parking procedures.
Resources Safety and Health Queensland (RSHQ) has released a safety alert after a ute driver was nearly crushed by a reversing bulldozer at a coal site in Central Queensland.
Dashcam video from the site shows the ute driver attempting to move out of the bulldozer’s way before being hit and pushed three metres across the site, Luckily, the ute driver escaped injury despite the side of the light vehicle receiving significant damage.
RSHQ’s chief inspector of coal mines Jacques le Roux says there was a significant risk of a fatality for an event that could have been avoided.
“Worryingly, our initial investigation has shown that the incident occurred because operators were routinely parking in an undocumented position to do crib time driver swaps,” le Roux says.
“Even though it was not the designated location to stop and swap operators, over time it had become normalised as the location and that created danger.
“What should have been a simple driver swap almost turned into a fatality because of a sequence of failures including a failure to establish positive communication and not following proper procedures.”
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le Roux reminded site senior executives at mines to review and enforce parking procedures and to implement safe work instructions for hot seat changeouts.
He said sites should ensure the application of the 50/30 rule as it applies to entering stockpile areas:
- communicate at 50 metres
- establish positive two-way communication with the machine operator or site supervisor
- stop vehicle at 30 metres
- park your vehicle outside the 30-metre exclusion zone.