Incidents of vehicle interactions on New South Wales mine sites have increased in the last six months. How can operators curb the uptick?
There have been 46 vehicle interactions at NSW mines reported to the state’s Resources Regulator in the previous six months.
Of those interactions, 45 per cent were at surface coal mines, 26 per cent from surface metalliferous and quarry operations, and 32 per cent from both underground coal and metalliferous mines.
“A review of these incidents has indicated that the predominant causes have been a lack or inadequate communication between people involved in the incidents, as well as a lack of situational awareness on the part of operators of equipment involved in the incidents,” the NSW Regulator said.
“Instances were also noted where procedures were not followed and equipment had malfunctioned.”
The Regulator has released recommendations to mine operators and workers that aim to offer a structure for tackling the increase in incidents.
Workers must:
- report areas of non-compliant roadways and intersections to their supervisor
- report all vehicle incidents
- report near misses in accordance with site requirements to their supervisor
- make positive communication in accordance with site protocols
- comply so far as reasonably able with any reasonable instruction that is given by mine operators.
Mine operators must:
- develop and implement a structured approach to vehicle interaction management, including benchmarking against leading practice. This may include the review of work conducted by focus groups, such as EMESRT (Earth Moving Equipment Safety Round Table) and other key organisations ensure a systematic and consultative approach to the identification, assessment and control of vehicle interaction hazards, including a scheduled review process that checks controls before they fail
- consider using higher order controls using the hierarchy of controls such as fitting proximity detection devices or the use of Global Positioning System technology to provide speed monitoring of vehicles to generate alarms where speed limits are exceeded to alert the operator and others
- have a system in place to audit the level of compliance to positive communication protocols to ensure they remain effective. This can be done by direct observation by supervisors or the review of radio audio logs
- have a system in place to ensure vehicles are maintained fit for purpose
- implement, maintain and monitor equipment speed monitoring systems in vehicles to alert the operator where speed limits are exceeded, as well as supervisors conducting spot checks on intersection, crest and ramp speeds and intervene where non-compliance is identified
- encourage workers to report on areas of non-compliant roadways and intersections to supervisors
- encourage workers to report all vehicle incidents and near misses.
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