A dump truck has plunged into the ground when an operator in a New South Wales open cut coal mine was tipping a load.
The dump truck’s rear wheels both dropped around one metre when the edge of the dump slumped during the load tipping.
According to the New South Wales Resources Regulator, ground stability should be a major consideration when a designing a dump.
This includes material consistency, wet conditions and dipping ground stability as factors of the dump design.
“Areas that do not meet the standard should be demarcated, communicated and remediated to meet the standard,” the Regulator stated.
The Regulator reported 37 incidents in the week ending May 21, 2021.
In February, a dump truck also dropped at least a metre into the ground due to a dump wall failure.
“Avoid working near, or parking vehicles and equipment under, or on the edge of high-walls and low-walls during and post wet weather events,” the regulator stated in a safety bulletin.
“Where possible, use drones to inspect wall and dump conditions, particularly post wet weather events for detection of failures and the pooling of water.”
In March 2019, a similar incident was recorded by the Regulator, when a truck’s tip head slumped during dumping in open cut coal mine.
When the truck was tipping its load, the edge dropped and the truck was not able to move forward.
The Regulator suggested that tip heads and dumps should have suitable inspection regimes in place.