WorkSafe Victoria has issued a safety alert to warn operators against the risks of handling powered mobile machinery in or nearby water bodies.
The advisory comes after a 75 tonne excavator was found completely submerged in a flooded quarry pit.
At the time of the incident, the excavator operator was positioning the powered mobile plant on a bench in the inundated extraction area.
However, when it entered the water body, the excavator sank. The operator needed to escape and swim away from the excavator.
The operator received first aid at the site before he was transported to nearby medical facilities for further treatment.
Responding to the incident, WorkSafe’s reminder noted several safety concerns.
“Operating powered mobile plant in and around water bodies of unknown depth and underlying ground conditions may expose plant operators to the risk of the machinery becoming submerged resulting in injury or drowning,” the alert stated.
Some of those safety issues, according to WorkSafe, include the possibility of electrical shock, entanglement with parts of the plant, drowning, exposure to contaminated or unpredictable water currents resulting in being swept away.
To eliminate or reduce the risk of powered mobile plant becoming submerged in water bodies, employers are being urged to adopt steps like ensuring exclusion zones are provided around bodies of water including appropriate physical barriers and signage to prevent plant from accessing the water hazard, and maintaining working surfaces around bodies of water including benches to ensure appropriate ground bearing capacity to support the weight of the powered mobile plant.
Alongside those, operators must also ensure powered mobile plant is not operated in water bodies unless it is specifically designed for that application such as barge mounted plant or amphibious plant, and provide information, instruction, training and supervision on operating powered mobile plant around bodies of water.
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