The Regulator recommends mine operators review their auxiliary fan operational risk assessments and controls after workers at 2 underground coal mines were injured installing ventilation ducting.
Both incidents involved the workers being sucked into the end of a ventilation duct from the platform of a continuous miner.
Mine operators should consider the specific hazard identified with the incidents - workers being drawn into or against the ventilation ducting.
It follows a previous incident in 2020 (PDF, 792.49 KB) in which a worker briefly lost consciousness when he was sucked into the end of an auxiliary fan ventilation tube during installation.
