A recent incident in Queensland, where a worker was crushed by two heavy vehicles[1] has prompted Mr Yeung Head of Health and Safety at Peninsula, an Employment relations firm, representing over 31,000 clients across Australia and New Zealand to release a statement, “This tragedy could have been avoided had there been an effective traffic management plan in place. The root cause of most workplace incidents typically consists of a series of systematic failures on multiple levels.”
“Mining sites can be considered one of the most potentially dangerous workplaces. It has one of the highest rates of fatalities and serious injuries out of any industry. Why is it that despite all the regulations, legal enforcement, and penalties to ensure suitable processes and systems are implemented at mining sites; workers are still seriously injured and killed in our mines today? This begs us to question if more needs to be done to ensure every worker has the right to go home safely.”
“Businesses should and must identify hazards and associated risks with all work activities and ensure control measures are put in place that are; suitable, adequate, and regularly monitored. Businesses also have an obligation to ensure they are consulting with their workers when they carry out risk assessments; all stakeholders should be a part of this process.” Continued Mr Yeung.”
October is National Safe Work Month and in a bid to help businesses with health and safety, Peninsula has made available free resources and guidelines that support businesses in their work health and safety management on workplace sites.
“Any and every effective traffic management plan should be based on risk assessments conducted to eliminate or minimise risks as reasonably practicable as possible. However, it doesn’t stop there. The plan is just the first of many steps in ensuring everyone’s safety is guaranteed on site. Having periodical reviews to evaluate the effectiveness of existing controls and assessing whether these controls are adequate and effective in protecting the workers is necessary.”
“Another recommendation is to ensure there is a comprehensive training process to ensure workers are competent to carry out their work safely, and to address potential risks associated with operator error.”
“With proper controls and systems in the workplace, most accidents are preventable and business owners need to make it their priority to make sure that every one of their employees engaged in high-risk work get to go home to their families.” Said Mr Yeung.
[1] Mine worker pinned between truck and loader – Australasian Mine Safety Journal (amsj.com.au)
