Truck safety is always a concern and recently the Western Australia Department of Mines and Petroleum issued a safety bulletin to warn truck drivers about driving their vehicles with fitters still working underneath them.
The summary of the hazard
In the last 18 months there have been 3 reported incidents at open pits that involved a truck driver driving away in their truck when a fitter was still in the process of working underneath it.
None of the fitters were injured in the 3 incidents but there was a high risk for potential serious injury and potential death.
Summaries of the 3 Incidents are as follows.
Incident 1: The fitter involve was told to turn on the heater valves of a dump truck one night, these valves are located under the truck. He moved toward the truck on the driver’s offside while signaling the driver who was seated in the cabin with the truck engine running.
The driver did not see the fitter and left with the fitter underneath the truck. The fitter was under the centre of the truck and was unharmed.
Incident 2: This incident involved a water truck that broke down at night. Two fitters checked for leaks in the transmission after it was filled with oil by a serviceman and then put commissioning tags on the main isolation point.
They told the driver that he needed to collect his things from the truck cabin. The driver apparently misunderstood the instruction and drove away with the fitters still under the truck.
Incident 3: A fitter put a restricted operations tag onto the main isolation point of a truck at the beginning of a day shift after the driver of the truck had finished his pre start checks.
The fitter, while working under the truck, asked the driver to start the truck to assist him. A light vehicle left the area in front of the truck while the fitter was still working.
The driver thought that the fitter had left in the light vehicle began to move the truck and the fitter moved to the centre of the vehicle to avoid injury.
The contributing factors
- In all 3 incidents the truck drivers did not know that the fitters were positioned underneath their trucks prior to driving
- Both incorrectly used tags or the use of inappropriate tags were contributing factors in all of the incidents. Neither the drivers or the fitters followed the designated procedures associated with tagging and isolation such as putting tags at isolation and control points, not checking isolation points for tags and the fact that drivers were situated in truck cabins whilst repairs were carried out.
- Poor communication between the drivers and fitters and assumptions that were incorrect
- There were not proper systems of work that ensured the fitters were clear before trucks were moved. Wheel chocks were not used and in one of the incidents the horn was not used before the truck was moved
- Visibility was limited when two of the incidents happened at night
- Systems of work for truck maintenance at mining operations should be reviewed by companies
- Prior to work commencing under a truck in an open pit the drivers should always leave the cabin and the truck be isolated. Tags that are appropriate for the work should always be used in tandem with personal locks being installed at the main isolation point of the truck
- Exclusive control procedures or restricted operations are necessary as well as tags if the truck is running to assist the maintenance procedure. Tags should be added to the main control points such as the steering wheel. Potentially use a restricted access task controller to restrict access to the truck while it is being fixed. When the truck is being repaired then all workers, fitters and drivers would be required to work with the authority of this controller.
