A ute driver narrowly escaped death after being struck and pushed by a reversing bulldozer at a coal mine in Central Queensland, with dashcam footage of the incident released publicly as a safety warning.
The video captures the moment the ute driver attempted to steer out of the bulldozer’s path before the machine made contact, pushing the light vehicle approximately three metres across the site.
Despite significant damage to the side of the ute, the driver was not injured.
Queensland’s Chief Inspector of Coal Mines Jacques le Roux said the incident should have never occurred.
“Worryingly, our initial investigation has shown that the incident occurred because operators were routinely parking in an undocumented position to do crib time driver swaps,” said Le Roux.
“Even though it was not the designated location to stop and swap operators, over time, it had become normalised as the location and that created danger.
“What should have been a simple driver swap almost turned into a fatality because of a sequence of failures, including a failure to establish positive communication and not following proper procedures.”
The incident stemmed from mine operators habitually parking at an undesignated spot during shift changeovers.
While no formal documentation ever approved the location, it had gradually become the default stopping point, creating conditions where a bulldozer operator was unaware of the stationary ute’s presence.
Le Roux said the risk of a fatality was significant and the event was entirely avoidable.
Following the incident, site senior executives at Queensland mines have been urged to review and enforce parking procedures and to implement safe work instructions for what are known as hot seat changeouts, where operators swap positions without fully shutting down machinery.
Authorities also reminded sites to enforce the 50/30 rule when entering stockpile areas: drivers must communicate with the machine operator or site supervisor at 50 metres, establish positive two-way communication, bring their vehicle to a stop at 30 metres, and park outside the 30-metre exclusion zone.
The safety alert, accompanied by the dashcam footage, was released to highlight how informal practices can erode safety standards and create deadly hazards even during routine operations.
