This safety alert is issued to warn people about the risk of uncontrolled movement of vehicles which are parked unsafely—that is, they are not fundamentally stable.
About the incident
Two electricians at a mine were asked to check a job at the tailings dam. Access to the job site was via a steep ramp, and the electricians used a utility to access the site. At the top of the ramp, the passenger got out of the vehicle and guided the driver forward onto a flat section of ground. The driver parked the vehicle, believing that it was on flat ground and therefore stable.
However, once he got out of the vehicle, it started to roll backwards down the ramp. The driver initially tried to get back into the vehicle, but realised he couldn’t do so safely and moved out of the way. The vehicle rolled backwards about 25 metres, crashing through a 1.2m high bund and ending up in a canal.
Fortunately, nobody else was on the ramp or the access road when the vehicle rolled backwards and there were no injuries. However, the outcome could have been more serious if other vehicles or pedestrians had been present at the time.
This image was taken from the top of the ramp and shows the damaged bund where the utility vehicle crashed through:
This image shows the vehicle in the canal:
Causes and contributing factors
The driver said he thought he was on a flat section of ground when he parked and got out of the vehicle. He did not consider the risk of the vehicle rolling away.
He also said the handbrake was in good working order, and that he had left the vehicle in gear with the handbrake applied. It is not known why the handbrake did not hold the vehicle in place.
Recommendations
Provide any information, training, instruction or supervision that is necessary to protect people from risks to their health and safety arising from the uncontrolled movement of vehicles.
This may include training workers about the control measures that should be used to make a vehicle fundamentally stable when parked, and training supervisors to ensure that the control measures are being used as intended.
Resources
Managing the Risks of Plant in the Workplace code of practice