Mining Company Fined After Fatal Fan Guard Failure at Underground Quartz Sand Mine

Brief Summary

An experienced electrician died while working on power restoration at an underground quartz sand mine after being trapped by a mine BORA fan. The HSE investigation found serious failings in how the fan had been modified, commissioned, and maintained, including inadequate guarding and missing risk and maintenance documentation.

What Was The Incident?

The electrician arrived for a day shift to help restore power after storm damage. He was working with an apprentice to disconnect a communications cable near one of the underground mine BORA fans. During the task, he was found trapped in the fan and suffered fatal injuries when he was struck by the blades.

What Was The Outcome?

The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £150,000 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £11,250. Immediate enforcement action was taken by the HSE, and the company later engaged a specialist mining consultancy to achieve compliance.

Key Points To Consider

Control risks when equipment is modified. When the fan assembly was split into two separate fans, the hazards from the modification were not properly identified or managed, and no written risk assessment was produced.

Commissioning must be supported by proper documents and records. No commissioning documents were created and there were no records of management discussion about the separation of the unit, leaving key decisions unsupported.

Guarding must meet required protection distances and remain effective. After the modification, the rotating parts of the fan were left significantly closer to the intake guard than was safe, and the intake guard design and coverage were inadequate, with parts of the exhaust end remaining unguarded.

Maintenance and inspection regimes must detect degrading guard conditions. The intake guard was found in a seriously degraded condition, with corrosion on missing mesh areas indicating it had been present for some time, but the condition was not identified during recorded electrical inspections because there was no proper maintenance regime.

Keep mechanical assets in good order with clear inspection and maintenance records. The two fans had not been listed on the Mechanical Asset Register, and inspection checklists or maintenance records could not be provided, so the guarding and related condition were not effectively tracked or verified.

HSE Prosecution Link