The incident occurred when the driver was asked to escort a contractor’s vehicle onto a bench so the contractor could perform routine maintenance work.

The Mine Safety Operation branch has indicated fatigue or light was not a factor as it was the middle of the day and it was the operator’s first shift back at work after a break.

According to the government’s safety alert, the operator requested permission from the open cut examiner to go through witch’s hats that were placed at the foot of the ramp to access the bench.

He drove onto the bench where he left the contractors to perform their work.

While exiting the bench, he drove over a 4.5m low wall and the vehicle landed on its roof. The operator had been on the bench for about one minute.

According to the alert, the operator confused a small amount of material on the bench for the windrow of the ramp. The ramp windrow finished at the same point as the edge of the top of the low wall.

Mine Safety said the top of the ramp and the edge of the low wall was not clearly delineated and there was no barrier to warn the operator he was approaching the edge of the ramp.

The Mine Safety Operation branch issued the following recommendations for operations:

All personnel should notify the relevant mining official when they are entering a work area.

All operators should receive positive communication from the mining supervisor and any machinery operator in the work area they are entering.

Operators should be familiar with their work environment before working in the area.

An inspection should be undertaken to ensure that surface transport management plan requirements are in place. The surface transport management plan should be reviewed and, if found deficient, should be strengthened.

All operators should wear seat belts while operating machinery.