© 2010 Boart Longyear. All rights reserved. TM Company confidential – unauthorized use or distribution prohibited Fall Arrest Incident

© 2010 Boart Longyear. All rights reserved.

TM

Company confidential – unauthorized use or

distribution prohibited

Fall Arrest Incident

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TMCompany confidential – unauthorized use or distribution prohibited


On November 13/2010, there was a Fall Arrest Incident that could have had dire consequences if procedures were not followed.

A worker was in the process of cleaning the floor with a blow pipe on a blast that benched when the ground he was standing on failed.

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Through the investigation there are some key points that have come to light.

A 6’ X 6’ drop raise was blasted without any incident On November 10, 2010 a driller on N/S was instructed

to assist the client to blast 3 rings to open the slot and then to go to another level and continue drilling

The client decided to blast 13 rings into the slot raise against the advice from our driller. The blast subsequently benched.

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What went wrong There was no blast letter issued hence no engineering control The decision to blast that much ground into a 6’X6’ opening

didn’t allow for the swell of the rock. Possibly what caused the blast to bench

The failure of the bench was slow enough that the locking mechanism of the Sala block didn’t engage

The worker fell approximately 15 feet into the open stope When he fell he lost his hard hat While the worker was suspended, material was falling from the

edge, striking him

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What went right A site inspection was done on the mucking level and on the

working level to inspect bench Worker was trained and using a fall arrest system There were other workers present on watch There was a rescue ladder nearby The spotter was well experienced and knew what to do

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What could have been done better There should have been a rescue plan in place Worker should not have been working on the bench. There should have been 3 anchors in place. One for the

worker, one for the spotter and one for the rescue ladder The rescue ladder should have been anchored and ready for

use A Sala block should not have been used in this situation. Use

fall restraint instead

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Here are some pictures

from the scene

See if you can spot any mistakes

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Fall Arrest IncidentPlan view

Benched area wherefloor failed (3 rings blasted)

Pillar

Open Hole (10 rings blasted)

Sala block

Worker blowingbench here

6’X6’ Drop Raise

Drift

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Shock absorber on harness Shock absorbing lanyard

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Improper anchor, not rated for 5000 lbs

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Snap hooks are connected together , roll out could occur

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Ladder wasn’t secured before incident

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Fall Arrest IncidentBench failure – Top view

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Draw point was empty before incident

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Questions?

Documents

© 2010 Boart Longyear. All rights reserved. TM Company confidential – unauthorized use or distribution prohibited Fall Arrest Incident