The reminder comes after an incident underground saw the rear tyres on a RAM car (rubber-tyred mobile plant) overheat and burst, releasing a toxic smoke-like substance into the mine.
The driver of the car and other miners smelt the substance in the ventilation current, put on their self-rescuers and walked out.
The rear tyres on the car overheated internally when the high-pressure rubber-liner inserts were overloaded.
The internal heating created internal pressures which burst the side wall of the tyre and allowed products of combustion gases to escape.
Investigations into the incident found the RAM car was capable of travelling significantly faster than the safe operating speed of the tyre assembly and no information on the rated duty cycle or capacity of either the tyre or the rubber insert was made available at the mine.
The driver of the car was not made aware of any speed, load or distance limitations on the tyre assembly, even though a similar incident had occurred six months earlier at the mine.
It was also found the original tyres had been replaced with a tyre of a lower capacity which should have de-rated the car from 20 tons to a 13-ton load.
The DPI reminded underground miners of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 and Occupational Health and Safety Regulation 2001 which required adequate information about equipment to ensure its safe use.
It made the following recommendations:
- Designers, manufacturers and suppliers of mobile plant and equipment should only fit tyres to mobile plant that can safely carry the specified load at specified speeds;
- Manufacturers and suppliers of tyres and rubber inserts should provide information on the safe load, speed and distance for each tyre;
- Users of mobile equipment, mines hire companies and contractors should only operate equipment in accordance with the manufacturer’s guidelines; and
- Adequate information should be provided to all drivers to ensure mobile plant and equipment is only operated within the designated safe limits of operation.
