In the past 9 months, there have been 5 significant incidents involving the hydraulic crowd cylinders on load haul dump (LHD) machines in underground coal mines. Four of these incidents have occurred in the past 4 months.
This issue has caused the NSW Resources Regulator to issue a safety bulletin to industry.
The crowd cylinder forms the top mount supporting the attachment plate. LHDs in the underground coal industry are widely used as utility vehicles, coupling to a variety of implements including some where people are elevated (such as work baskets and drill rigs). Overloading or failure of the crowd cylinder can cause the implement to drop and rotate about the lower load arm pivot joint. Any people in the machine, or in close proximity on the ground, are placed at immediate risk of serious injury or worse.
Read the full safety bulletin and recommendations (PDF, 1.04 MB)
