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SafeWork NSW in unloading risk reminder to operators

Authority’s incident report charts truck-driver unloading fatality

 

Workplace health and safety authority SafeWork NSW is reminding operators to identify hazards and manage risks associated with unloading heavy loads after a truck driver was fatally injured last month.

It released an incident report after a 65-year-old driver suffered fatal injuries when struck by two steel pipes as they were being unloaded from a heavy-vehicle trailer in Moorebank.

A telehandler, operating from the opposite side of the truck, was used to unload the pipes.

SafeWork reminds businesses of their duty to identify hazards and manage risks to health and safety in accordance with the provisions of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017.

“Consider ‘reasonably practicable’ control measures to manage the risks associated with unloading heavy loads,” it notes.

“Before entering any work area, delivery drivers should be inducted into the site-specific rules and procedures, then directed to an exclusion zone that allows mobile plant to be used safely.”


SafeWork also released findings from the Port Botany incident recently


SafeWork’s advice before unloading is to ensure:

• fasteners and load restraint systems are working as intended, and are in good condition – restraint systems should prevent loads from moving and control pipes from rolling off the truck bed or against a truck mounted post, barrier or frame

• workers are competent, have received training and instructions on loading and unloading stock safely, and have appropriate high-risk work licences if necessary

• the appropriate plant is used to lift and transport the stock, and attachments are compatible and properly fitted

When loading or unloading, make sure:

• workers don’t place themselves between the load and the truck, trailer, lifting equipment or any other pinch point

• workers don’t work on the opposite side of the trailer (other than when seated in the cab of a backstop forklift).

 

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