The 7-mile Emergency Response Team was asked by the wagon maintenance department to confirm a previously written rescue plan for the confined space entry to the Portec Jacks Pit as part of its fortnightly training schedule.
The ERT set up a rescue tri pod with a rescue master rope system over the open pit area.
They then had one of the maintainers working in the pit removed in an emergency scenario to test the equipment and the rescue plan.
Supervisor Wagon Maintenance Barney Barnett said the success of the exercise confirmed that the rescue plan was accurate and achievable.
“It should be a comfort to the maintainers that there is an accurate and tested rescue plan for this area which can be used in the event of an emergency,” he said.
This article was first published in Coastal News [September 2007, Issue No. 3] – Rio Tinto’s Coastal Division Newsletter.
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