WorkSafe has issued a safety alert following an incident that resulted in an excavator being submerged in a flooded quarry pit.
The excavator became submerged when the operator was positioning the mobile plant on a bench in the flooded extraction area. The operator needed to escape and swim away from the excavator – he received first aid on site and was transported to a medical facility for further treatment.
Operating powered mobile plant in and around water bodies of unknown depth and underlying ground conditions can place the operators at risk of injury or drowning.
Risks arising from submerged powered mobile plant include electrical shock, entanglement, drowning, exposure to contaminated water and unpredictable currents.
Under the OHS Act and Regulations employers must, so far as is reasonably practicable, provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risks to health, provide and maintain safe systems of work, and ensure that both the workplace and the plant is safe. They must also ensure that employees are given the instruction, training, information and supervision that is necessary to enable them to work in a way that is safe and without risk to health.
When planning work tasks employers must identify all hazards associated with the task, including the plant used and the systems of work associated with the plant. They must eliminate or reduce the risk associated with plant, following the Hierarchy of Controls. Factors that should be considered are risks associated with plant overturning, objects falling onto the operator or the operator being ejected from the plant.
WorkSafe’s recommended actions to eliminate or reduce the risks of powered mobile plant becoming submerged in bodies of water include –
- ensure that exclusion zones are provided around bodies of water including appropriate physical barriers and signage to prevent plant from accessing the water hazard
- maintain working surfaces around bodies of water, including benches, to ensure appropriate ground bearing capacity to support the weight of the powered mobile plant
- where possible, manage the water level by reducing water in-flow or by using engineering controls to automatically extract water before work platforms and benches become flooded or submerged
- ensure that the powered mobile plant utilised for working near bodies of water is appropriate for the task at hand, such as the use of a long reach excavator
- ensure powered mobile plant is not operated in water bodies unless it is specifically designed for that application such as barge mounted plant or amphibious plant
- where possible, remove water from areas of the workplace that require access via powered mobile plant
- ensure that appropriate rescue procedures are implemented prior to operating powered mobile plant in and or around bodies of water and ensure that the required recovery or rescue equipment is provided and readily accessible
- provide information, instruction, training and supervision on operating powered mobile plant around bodies of water
- provide appropriate personal protective equipment such as personal flotation devices when operating plant designed to operate in water bodies.
WorkSafe have produced a poster addressing this safety alert.
Further WorkSafe information that is relevant to this hazard can be found at Mining and quarries: Safety basics | WorkSafe Victoria and Compliance Code: Plant | WorkSafe Victoria. Our OHSReps page 3.5 Plant - OHS Reps examines the duties of employers who use plant and includes useful links for further plant information.
Read more: Operating mobile plant in or near to water bodies | WorkSafe Victoria
