Mine workshop chock ‘moves the dial on safety’

A wheel chock designed after a potentially fatal workshop incident at a Central Queensland mine site has taken top Health and Innovation Awards honours. Anglo American Dawson Mine was named the winner of the innovation category at the Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference event. QMIHSC 2022 Chair Peter Newman said Anglo American’s innovation created a safer and simpler way of working on mining trucks in workshops, while significantly reducing the potential for fatalities and injuries. “Their solution moves the dial on safety in mine workshops by introducing a hard engineering control to remove the risk of unsafe wheel chock ejection,” Mr Newman said. The Dawson Mine Maintenance team also caught the attention of the conference delegates, taking home the People Choice Award as well. The team worked with OEM National Plastics to find an engineering solution after an incident at the mine's main workshop in August last year. A 14kg wheel chock - which fitters had forgotten to remove - was ejected at force when a Liebherr T264 was moved forward during maintenance activities. A fitter was standing near another tyre impacted by the ejected chock, in what was described as a 'potential fatality event'. Trials with standard industry wheel chocks (pictured above) found that their shape and width enables the tyre to compress/store energy and release it suddenly as the truck drives over the tall end of the wedge profile and the tyre springs back into shape. The team came up with a flatter trapezoidal profile as a better engineering design for the workshop chock to prevent wheel chock ejection. The workshop chock designed was also longer in length to ensure the chock could be placed into the centre of large earth moving tyres from the outside - removing the need for coal mine workers to stand in front of the tyre line, a potentially hazardous situation. It also features a handle and wheels to allow better ergonomic design when placing the chock. The handle also creates a visual indicator to workshop personnel, spotters and operators that there is a chock in place. The QMIHSC Health and Innovation Awards was developed to recognise creative and practical solutions in the health and safety space to promote their application across the state’s resources industry. Kestrel Coal Resources were announced as the winner of the Health Awards category for their 2022 Lifestyle Challenge. Mr Newman commended Kestrel for their commitment to culture improvements and healthy lifestyle changes at their operation through the wellbeing initiative. “A safe and high performing workforce is one that is healthy and happy in their workplace,” Mr Newman said. Award winners and finalists: Innovation Awards Overall Winner: Anglo American Dawson Mine’s ‘Workshop Wheel Chock' People’s Choice Winner: Anglo American Dawson Mine’s ‘Workshop Wheel Chock' Highly Commended: Fitzroy Australia Resources Carborough Downs Coal Mine’s The Gracey Spray Finalists: CDMI Australia’s Illuminated Guidance System for Day and Night; BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) Hay Point Terminal’s Parted Mooring Line Snapback Protection Barrier; and Sojitz Blue’s Magnetic Base Hydraulic Cylinder Adapter Health Awards Overall Winner: Kestrel Coal Resources’ 2022 Lifestyle Challenge; Highly Commended: Redpath Australia’s Strength in Numbers – Mental Health and Wellbeing

Mine workshop chock ‘moves the dial on safety’

Industry Queensland

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