Dozer safety at coal mines the focus of Rockhampton forum

Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health Kate du Preez said it was encouraging to see industry coming together to share their experiences with dozer incidents and to discuss the lessons learned with colleagues from across the industry.

“Incidents involving dozers and other mobile equipment have complex causes and there are often multiple points of failure of controls in the lead up to an incident,” Kate said.

“Presenters discussed how operations have responded to dozer and other plant incidents including risk assessments, reviewing the selection of controls and the practical verification of the effectiveness of critical controls.

“There were also good discussions about practical strategies that could be implemented to improve safety outcomes for dozer operations in the short, medium and long term.”

Kate said one of her key messages as Commissioner had been the need to promote best practice by openly sharing the learnings from incidents across the whole industry.

“I have a strong belief that the Queensland resources industry has the expertise, the technology and the systems necessary to eliminate incidents involving dozers and other plant equipment.

“What this event demonstrated was that the industry also has the willingness and the commitment to do the work to achieve the desired outcome.

“The willingness of attendees to share their lessons learned with their peers and the desire to work together on similar forums in the future shows the continuing maturity of the Queensland mining industry when it comes to safety.”

The Dozer safety forum was organised by the Queensland Resources Council in cooperation with the Commissioner for Resources Safety and Health and a working group of site senior executives from coal mine operators.

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