QSCS Quarry Skills flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Hierarchy of control

The ordered sequence of risk controls: eliminate, substitute, engineering controls, administrative controls, and finally PPE. Controls higher in the list are more reliable because they do not depend on human behaviour.

Residual risk

The level of risk that remains after all reasonable controls have been applied. It must be reduced to a tolerable level and recorded, but it is rarely zero.

Suitable and sufficient assessment

The legal standard for a risk assessment: it must identify hazards, identify who may be harmed and how, evaluate risks, and record significant findings where five or more employees are employed.

Competent person

A person with sufficient training, experience, knowledge and other qualities to properly carry out the task or duty assigned to them, such as inspecting an excavation or plant.

Lock-out tag-out

An isolation procedure in which the energy source is isolated, locked, tagged, and proved dead before work begins. Each worker applies their own lock so the plant cannot be re-energised.

Stored energy

Energy retained in a system after isolation, such as hydraulic pressure, compressed air, suspended loads or springs. It must be released or restrained before maintenance work starts.

Pre-start inspection

The operator's daily check of plant before use, covering fluids, tyres, guards, lights, alarms, seat belt, brakes, steering and leaks. Defects are recorded and reported.

Banksman signals

Agreed hand or radio signals used to guide a reversing vehicle. The driver must keep the banksman in clear view and stop immediately if sight is lost.

Traffic management plan

A documented plan defining haul routes, one-way systems, speed limits, pedestrian walkways, crossing points and reversing areas to segregate people and mobile plant.

Blind spots on mobile plant

Areas around a machine that the operator cannot see from the cab. Pedestrians must never assume they have been seen, and operators use mirrors, cameras and spotters.

Angle of repose

The steepest angle at which loose material such as spoil or stockpile material remains stable. Exceeding it causes the slope to fail and run.

Excavation edge protection

Barriers, warning signs and spoil set-back distances around an excavation. Spoil is kept back at least a distance equal to the depth of the excavation.

Cable avoidance tool

A detection device used with service plans and hand-dug trial holes to locate buried services before digging. It supplements, but never replaces, hand digging near marked services.

Misfire

An explosive charge that failed to detonate as planned. It must be treated as live, the area kept clear, and only a competent person may deal with it.

Blast exclusion zone

The area cleared and guarded before firing. The shot firer confirms all personnel are accounted for and gives the warning signal before the blast.

Explosives magazine

A licensed, secure store for explosives. Issue and return of explosives are recorded and only authorised persons may draw them.

Conveyor nip point

The point where the belt runs onto a pulley or roller and can trap or draw in a person. Nip guards and pull-cords are the key controls.

Interlocked access door

A guard door on a crusher or screen that stops the plant when opened. Bypassing the interlock is a serious safety breach.

Clearing a blockage

Removing material jammed in a crusher or conveyor. The plant must be isolated, locked off, proved dead and stored energy released before any work starts.

Pull-cord emergency stop

A cord running alongside a conveyor that stops the belt when pulled. It must be tested, but is not a substitute for isolation during maintenance.

DR ABC

The primary survey sequence for a casualty: danger, response, airway, breathing, circulation. It guides the first aider's initial assessment before further treatment.

Reportable incident

An incident that must be reported to the regulator, such as a fatality, specified injury, over-seven-day injury, dangerous occurrence or certain occupational disease.

Preserving the scene

Keeping the site of a serious incident undisturbed so the investigation can establish cause. Equipment is only moved to save life or prevent further harm.

Root cause investigation

An investigation that looks beyond the immediate cause to underlying failures in systems, training or supervision, so that recurrence is prevented rather than blame apportioned.

Silica dust

Fine dust from cutting, drilling and crushing rock that causes serious lung disease. Control it with water or extraction rather than relying on respiratory protection alone.

Silt trap and lagoon

Settlement structures that allow suspended solids in runoff to settle before discharge, protecting watercourses from pollution from stockpiles and haul roads.

Bunding around fuel storage

A raised, impermeable surround that contains leaks and spills from fuel or chemical tanks so they cannot reach drains or watercourses.

Waste segregation

Separating general, hazardous and recyclable waste into labelled containers so each stream is disposed of correctly through licensed carriers.

Toolbox talk

A short, task-specific briefing delivered before work begins. It covers hazards and controls, and understanding is confirmed by questioning the team.

Authority to stop work

The supervisor's power and duty to halt a task where there is an imminent risk to safety. It is a core supervisory responsibility, not an optional action.

Shift handover

The transfer of information between shifts covering plant status, isolation status, ongoing hazards and open defects, so that the incoming team starts safely.

Dynamic risk assessment

A reassessment made when conditions change on site, such as weather, new personnel or altered plant. It supplements, but does not replace, the written risk assessment.