$50,000 fine for preventable boom pump death

A Victorian concrete pumping company has been sentenced following the death of a worker as a result of a boom pump failure.

The 40-year-old was operating a truck-mounted pumping machine fitted with a 32 metre boom pump at a St Albans site back in 2021.

It’s understood the experienced operator was standing in the concrete slab when the extended boom collapsed, struck him in the head and caused fatal injuries.

Investigations by WorkSafe discovered a fatigue crack in the boom, which caused the king post to snap and the boom to collapse.

As a result, Prisbel Concrete Pumping Pty Ltd was fined $50,000 for failing to provide or maintain safe plant, and was also ordered to pay costs of $8,179.

Thorough inspections can prevent incidents

Like with many machinery incidents we see here at Plant Assessor, most of them can be prevented by adequately mitigating the risks identified during comprehensive machinery inspections.

According to WorkSafe Victoria, Prisbel had been conducting regular inspections on the boom pump throughout its 11 years of ownership. However, the components had not been properly disassembled and tested to identify unsafe, hidden components, such as the king post.

AS 2550.15:2019 Cranes, hoists & winches - Safe use concrete placing equipment specifies the type and frequency of inspection, assessment and maintenance for concrete placing equipment to aid in reducing the risk of such hazards. These inspections include:

• Pre-operational inspections; to be conducted prior to each use.
• Routine inspections and maintenance; to be conducted monthly.
• Periodic inspections.

Further information can be found in the standard.

There are a number of other measures you can take to ensure inspections conducted on your machinery are as comprehensive as possible. These include:

• Having standardised processes for machinery inspections to ensure assessors are checking all machine components during each inspection.
• Conducting machine-specific risk assessments that assist in the identification of hazards unique to a certain machine type.
• Ensuring inspections are conducted by a machinery expert who knows the intricacies of the machine and the hazards that are likely to appear on the specific make and model being inspected.
• Scheduling future inspections to ensure they are conducted on time and hazards are rectified promptly.

Need more assistance with identifying hazards unique to your machine?

Ideagen Plant Assessor can help! Our industry-leading software allows you to conduct machine- specific risk assessments and provides you with a complete risk management report instantly to aid in reducing the risk of identified hazards. Want more information? Contact us on 1300 728 852 or info@assessor.com.au.