To inspect the headchute of a mobile screening plant, a supervisor climbed the steelwork above the elevated platform and handrail to access the headchute inspection hatch. As he opened the headchute inspection door, which weighed more than 10 kg, it came away from its hinge pins and fell onto the elevated platform. The supervisor lost his balance. He fell backwards over the top handrail onto the conveyor, about 3 m below, and then to the ground, a further 3.5 m below that. Fortunately, he was not injured.
Direct causes
- The design of the mobile screening plant does not offer safe access to the headchute inspection hatch — the hatch cannot be reached while standing on the elevated platform.
- The inspection door's design allows it to easily detach from its hinge pins.
- The supervisor was working at height without fall protection.
Contributory causes
- The elevated platform handrails were not sufficiently high to prevent a fall from an elevated position above the platform.
- Although a site working-at-height procedure was available, the potential to fall from height was not identified and, therefore, controlled for the task of inspecting the headchute.
- No risk assessment, such as a job hazard analysis (JHA) or a job safety analysis (JSA), was conducted for the task.