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Grasstree Rib Fall 2014

11/12/2014 - Grasstree - Strata / Rib Fall

ABC News reports:

A man has been crushed to death under a wall which collapsed on him in an underground mine in central Queensland.

Police say the 45-year-old miner was pressure grouting a wall on an underground roadway when part of the wall came away and struck him in the Anglo American Grasstree underground coal mine near Middlemount, north-west of Rockhampton, about 11:00pm (AEST).

This accident claimed the life of Ian Downes

Recommendations

Recommendations

The Mine’s Safety and Health Management System must ensure:

  1. When mine roadways are driven that they are supported in accordance with the Underground Mine Managers support rules.

  2. Audits of underground roadways where personnel are expected to work or travel to ensure that the original support is still effective.

  3. That before work is undertaken that may interfere with the effectiveness of the original support a risk assessment is conducted before the activity begins.

  4. The statutory officials are informed at the start of shift of all work activities being conducted in the area under their control.

  5. The statutory officials conduct inspections with a degree of diligence that provides an acceptable level of risk.

  6. The contractor management procedures are effective in controlling, monitoring and assessing all activities undertaken by contractors at the mine.

  7. There is a process that records attendance at a Prestart meetings.

  8. The workplace inspections conducted by mine workers and monitored for effectiveness.

  9. There is a process which periodically checks for the effectiveness of the Geo-technical mapping process.