Worker suffers injury after bratt falls

June 15, 2021 Mining Editor

The NSW Resources Regulator has reported an underground coal mine worker suffered soft tissue injuries after piece of the roof of the coal mine fell off.

A continuous miner driver was standing at the start of a breakaway. The roof had been bolted, but not meshed. A piece of bratt (coal tops), approximately one metre by one metre by 80 millimetres thick, fell directly onto the miner driver. The bratt broke off from between the roof bolts. The worker sustained soft tissue injuries.

The risk of falling bratt was not identified and the absence of suitable restraint meant that the risk was not adequately controlled. When developing extraction plans mines should consider:

  • support plans that address the risks to workers associated with unconstrained roof material (coal tops and delaminated material)
  • extraction plans that include the removal of coal tops and/or delaminated roof material.

Read more Mining Safety News

READ RELATED Worker crushes fingers in roof bolted

The NSW Resources Regulator has reported an incident that a worker received crush injuries to two fingers when the hand was caught in a pinch point while operating a roof bolting rig. The worker was wearing gloves when her fingers became caught between the feed carriage endplate and the carriage retainers. The gloves had to be cut to free the worker’s fingers. The worker sustained degloving of the end of her left ring finger and the tip of her little finger. A polyurethane flap had been fitted to prevent access to the pinch point, but this proved to be an inadequate risk control.

The Regulator said: “mine operators should ensure that training of persons involved in roof bolting includes the identification of pinch points and associated hazards. Adequate controls should be put in place to control the risks. Operators should ensure that the installation of ‘lobster’ attachments does not introduce new, unidentified pinch points without risk controls.”

Previous Article
Resources Training Council postpones conference to 2022
Resources Training Council postpones conference to 2022

Due to the ongoing impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and its continuing effects being felt across our eco...

Next Article
NSW raises awareness of risk to workers of heavy vehicle collisions
NSW raises awareness of risk to workers of heavy vehicle collisions

The NSW Resources Regulator has directly engaged with more than 13,000 mine workers as part of a targeted a...