The New South Wales Resources Regulator has called for attention to the dangers of working with electricity on mine sites after a worker was treated for an electric shock.
An underground coal mine was conducting annual high voltage maintenance when the incident occurred, which including inspecting and testing.
As part of the inspection of an outlet cell and circuit breaker, a contract electrician was inspecting and cleaning the line side and load side spouts in the cell when he touched the load side spout and received an electric shock.
The Regulator confirmed the electrician was treated at the scene and the electric shock procedure was followed.
“The contract electrician was transported to the first aid facility and held under observation until the ambulance arrived,” the Regulator said.
The electrician was transported to the local hospital for further monitoring and blood tests and was later discharged as medically fit and transported back to site.
The Regulator said the apparent cause of the shock was the capacitive build-up in a 300mm2 XLPE cable (UG Feeder about 2.5 km long) connected to the load side of the outlet, which was discharged by the electrical contractor when he touched the load side spout to earth.
“Mine operators must develop and implement a robust isolation procedure that considers isolation and dissipation of capacitive build-up,” the Regulator said.
“Electricians must always ensure that they are trained and competent to undertake the electrical task and are able to dissipate and test all electrical components when working on an electrical system.”
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