Gavin Milner 1994
The single vehicle accident which caused the death of Gavin John Milner at the Tichum Creek Quarry on 17 October 1994 occurred when the deceased was driving a loaded Wabco 35C dump truck on a haul road to the primary crusher rock bin.
The right hand side of the truck struck the highwall with a reasonable amount of force. This initial impact caused severe damage to the steering mechanism of the truck. The truck then veered at an approximate 45 degree angle across the haul road through the safety berm and fell about 11 metres before striking the floor level of the lower bench in an inverted position, severely crushing the driver's cabin.
Prior to impact with the highwall the course of travel of the truck was in a straight line straddling a rill left by a grader over a distance of over 30 metres to the point of impact and the evidence suggests the vehicle was travelling at a speed in excess of 34 kilometres per hour.
This accident claimed the life of Gavin John Milner
Recommendations
- Prescribe a minimum haul road width of (in the case of a single carriageway) 1.5 times and (in the case of a double carriageway) 2.5 times the maximum width of any vehicle permitted to use the haul road;
- Prescribe a minimum safety berm height of one metre or one-half the wheel diameter of the largest truck permitted to use the haul road;
- Prescribe minimum specifications for the design of, and the kind of material used in the construction of, safety berms;
- Provide for a breach of the regulations where a vehicle exceeding the dimension limits governed by the width of the haul road and dimensions of safety berms is permitted to travel on that haul road.
We also recommend that greater importance be placed on ensuring compliance with existing regulatory requirements with regard to operator training and induction.