Background
This safety alert is issued to warn employers and workers about the risk of vehicles colliding with swing gates.
Swing gates are commonly used to restrict access to sections of workplaces, access tracks and other areas. They generally consist of a braced horizontal steel bar which is mounted on a vertical steel post and which can be swung open or closed across the track or road as required.
The free end of the bar can usually be secured to a second post with a chain or a lock, to restrict access to authorised people.
About the incident
An incident occurred recently at a mine when an unsecured swing gate swung open across a roadway.
A worker was driving a light vehicle along the roadway. He did not see the partially-open gate. The vehicle struck the gate, and the end of the bar went through the windscreen.
The worker was extremely lucky not to have been seriously injured or killed by the bar.
This image shows the swing gate through the windscreen, from the outside of the vehicle:
This image shows the inside of the vehicle with the swing gate through the windscreen:
This image shows how the swing gate blends in with the surrounding structures and is hard to see:
Causes and contributing factors
- The locking pin which secures the gate in the 'open' position was not installed by the person who opened the gate. This allowed the gate to swing across into the path of the vehicle, and was not detected before the incident. There was no clear process in place for ensuring and checking that the gate was secured in the 'open' position.
- The gate was painted yellow and was approximately at the same height as the worker driving the vehicle. This contributed to it 'blending in' with other surrounding yellow structures, such as handrails and buildings in the area, and not being noticed by the worker as he drove towards it.
Recommendations
Assess the risk of gates swinging into the path of vehicles and implement control measures in accordance with Part 3.1 of the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2022.
Resources
Managing the Risks of Plant in the Workplace code of practice