The most unfortunate Australian working for the Rio Tinto mining company somehow crushed his own pickup truck with one of the huge, fully loaded mining rigs on site in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The good news is that the incident didn’t result in any injury. The bad news is that, well… obviously, the pickup truck was smashed to pieces. The poor worker has also become the butt of jokes online, after photos from the mining site were posted to the Facebook group Mining Mayhem.
ABC.net says that the haul truck had been retrofitted with technology allowing it to operate autonomously within a geofenced zone. However, at the time of the incident, in the early hours of November 21, it was in manual mode and outside the autonomous zone.
Moreover, the man who caused it to roll forward over the truck, a Toyota Land Cruiser, wasn’t qualified as a driver for it. He was a mechanic doing unspecified maintenance work, and it seems that he drove his pickup close to the rig and proceeded to work on it. If that turns out to be the case, he may be found to have breached work safety measures, since personal vehicles are not allowed this close to mining rigs. For all the obvious reasons.
The report also notes that two separate investigations are underway: an internal one with the Rio Tinto mining company, and an external one conducted by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS).
“The ongoing internal investigation will seek to identify measures to ensure such incidents are avoided in the future,” a spokesperson for Rio Tinto says.
“DMIRS officers have attended the scene and are making inquiries,” director of mines safety Andrew Chaplyn tells the same media outlet.
The fate of the now-pickup-truck-less mechanic depends on the outcome of the investigations.
ABC.net says that the haul truck had been retrofitted with technology allowing it to operate autonomously within a geofenced zone. However, at the time of the incident, in the early hours of November 21, it was in manual mode and outside the autonomous zone.
Moreover, the man who caused it to roll forward over the truck, a Toyota Land Cruiser, wasn’t qualified as a driver for it. He was a mechanic doing unspecified maintenance work, and it seems that he drove his pickup close to the rig and proceeded to work on it. If that turns out to be the case, he may be found to have breached work safety measures, since personal vehicles are not allowed this close to mining rigs. For all the obvious reasons.
The report also notes that two separate investigations are underway: an internal one with the Rio Tinto mining company, and an external one conducted by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS).
“The ongoing internal investigation will seek to identify measures to ensure such incidents are avoided in the future,” a spokesperson for Rio Tinto says.
“DMIRS officers have attended the scene and are making inquiries,” director of mines safety Andrew Chaplyn tells the same media outlet.
The fate of the now-pickup-truck-less mechanic depends on the outcome of the investigations.