A fire in a licensed explosives storage area at a South Australian mine has prompted a SafeWork SA warning about the importance of functional fire safety systems.
The affected explosives articles – gas generating cartridges for secondary blasting – were past their shelf life and scheduled to be destroyed later that week when they caught fire.
The magazine’s fire detection system alerted the mine’s control centre, prompting a site evacuation of all personnel and triggering the deluge system, which successfully extinguished the fire.
The site’s emergency response team monitored temperatures in the magazine and separated unaffected pallets to ensure there was no risk of spread or reignition.
No one was injured in the fire.
SafeWork SA Inspectors attended the scene and said inquiries are ongoing. According to the regulator, a forensic fire investigator has been engaged to assist in identifying the cause.
In the meantime, SafeWork SA has released safety recommendations to the industry that aim to mitigate future incidents:
- Ensure that explosives are within their recommended shelf life
- Ensure that explosives are stored in accordance with the temperature and humidity requirements in the safety data sheet or technical data sheet
- Ensure that fire safety systems are maintained and functional
On-site fires are an unfortunate risk for mines across Australia. Workers have recently been allowed back on site after an underground fire broke out at Anglo American’s Moranbah North coal mine in Queensland in March.
Anglo American said data indicated a small, contained ignition occurred in the goaf, and that the ignition did not spread to the longwall face.
“We activated our action response plan after elevated carbon monoxide readings were detected in the goaf,” an Anglo spokesperson said.
“Goaf conditions normalised shortly after the incident occurred and remain stable. Monitoring of the underground environment is continuing.”
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