A worker at an open cut coal mine in New South Wales has suffered a fractured tibia and fibula after a poly pipe slipped, prompting regulator calls for clearer procedure.
The worker was joining the pipe flanges of two polyethylene pumping pipes in a pit when the incident occurred.
One of the pipes was resting on the ground, being supported by a large rock, and the other was secured via a single wrap chain attached to an excavator hitch.
According to an investigation by the NSW Resources Regulator, there was a slight overlap and misalignment of the two pipe flanges.
As the pipe flanges were being joined, the poly pipe attached to the excavator hitch sipped within its restraining chain allowing the pipe to hit the left leg of the worker.
The internal stored energy within the poly pipe released when the chain slipped along the pipe.
Following the incident, the state regulator urged workers to adhere to a safe work procedure (SWP).
“Mine operators should ensure that pulling and/or joining poly pipe is being carried out in accordance with a SWP and that all workers conducting the activity have been trained and assessed as being competent in that SWP,” the regulator said.
According to the regulator, a SWP should be developed from a risk assessment that sets out and assesses all foreseeable risks to workers during in-pit pulling and/or joining activities.
This should include risks associated with mobile plant, potential stored energy within the poly pipe and possible in-pit environmental conditions
It should also set out fit-for-purpose equipment to be used and how it is to be used, provide a fit-for-purpose means to secure the poly pipe to the pulling equipment, and provide safe standing zones for workers so they are outside possible recoil zones.
Subscribe to Safe to Work for the safety news that matters most to the Australian mining industry.