14.08.2014

Accident report published

The Mine Safety investigation unit of New South Wales, Australia has published the report of its investigation into the fatal crushing incident in Boggabri this May.

The investigation into the incident at the Boggabri Coal Mine in which Mark Galton, 50, died, while working from the platform of a JLG 600AJ articulated boom lift, confirms that he was trapped between the top rail of the platform and an overhead beam while slumped over the controls. Click here to see the original news report.
Please register to see all images

The scene at the Boggabri Coal Mine after the incident

Sadly it fails to determine if the trapping was due to inadvertent operation of one of the boom or jib functions, or if he had tried to drive the machine at the time.

While the report does not add anything new to the discussion regarding this type of incident, it does provide a clear review of an actual case which could prove useful in the training for users of boom lifts. It is also very timely coming less than three months after the incident occurred.
Please register to see all images

The platform following the recovery of the injured man

To see the full report - click here.

Vertikal Comment

While it is a shame that the investigation team was unable to be more precise over exactly what happened here, it is good to see that a comprehensive report has been published within 90 days of the incident and made widely available for user to learn from the unfortunate incident.

The manner in which most Australian safety organisations in our sector investigate, report and publish such material is a shining light for other organisations, such as the UK’s HSE which can take three or four years to publish such a report.

Facts on what caused an accident become less clear with time – the longer an investigation takes the less useful it tends to be.

Hopefully this sad case will prompt a few boom users to be more careful and more aware of the obstacles surrounding them.