In brief

Reversing mobile plant near people on foot is a leading drill and blast risk for Singleton and Hunter Valley mines. Flagman adds AI safety cameras that detect pedestrians around plant and log events on site, delivered and supported in Australia by Sharktech Global, as one layer within existing controls.

  • Problem: People on foot work close to reversing mobile plant during explosives loading on drill patterns.
  • Requirement: NSW mine operators must manage plant and pedestrian interaction under their principal hazard management plans, as part of WHS compliance in NSW.
  • Gap: Spotters and radio calls depend on people seeing and hearing everything, every time.
  • Outcome: An extra detection and evidence layer that supports planning, separation and audit, without replacing certified systems.

Drive out of Singleton on any weekday morning and you pass the haul roads, workshops and blast patterns that keep the Hunter Valley running. Shotfirers, drillers and plant operators share benches where loaded blastholes, emulsion hoses and mobile processing units sit only metres apart.

Most of the time the plan works. Plant moves when it should, people stand where they should, and the blast goes off on schedule. But a drill pattern is a crowded, changing workplace, and reversing plant is where small gaps in communication can become fatal.

Singleton’s industrial base

Coal mining employed 20.0% of employed Singleton LGA residents at the 2021 Census, according to ABS QuickStats. It means drill and blast crews, contractors and plant operators are a large share of the town’s workforce, and a serious incident on one bench touches families across the region. Mining safety technology in the Hunter Valley is not an abstract topic here. It is part of how local people get home.

Incident study: drill and blast safety and a reversing mobile processing unit near Singleton

This is an incident study from a regulator report. Flagman was not involved.

On 3 August 2026, at an open-cut coal mine near Singleton, workers and contractors were loading explosives into blastholes on a drill pattern. A contract shotfirer on foot was helping one mobile processing unit load emulsion, standing beside it at the emulsion hose.

At about 1:00 pm, a second mobile processing unit in the adjacent row reached the high wall at the end of the pattern and began reversing toward the worker. A spotter was supervising the reversing. After travelling about 50 metres, the second unit came alongside the first and struck the worker, who suffered fatal injuries. The NSW Resources Regulator released investigation information in August 2026, and its investigation is continuing.

The Regulator reminded mine operators to:

  • instruct and supervise workers so operators and pedestrians keep effective two-way communication
  • use spotters effectively when mobile plant reverses
  • adopt available technology such as proximity detection and collision avoidance systems where reasonably practicable
  • consider plant and pedestrian interaction when designing and sequencing drill pattern work, including explosives loading, and keep separation controls in place
  • monitor and verify these controls through safety management system reviews and audits.

Where Flagman fits, and where it does not

Reversing mobile plant pedestrian detection is one piece of the control picture. Our guide on how to choose a pedestrian detection system in Australia covers the wider selection process. For drill and blast safety, AI safety cameras could plausibly add value in these ways, subject to a site assessment:

  • Virtual zones around staging and access areas: Flagman detects people and vehicles in camera video and can flag a person entering a defined zone, such as the edge of a pattern or a plant laydown area, where cameras can be safely mounted.
  • Visibility for supervisors: a central dashboard and time-stamped video event logs show how often people and plant come close, which supports the planning and separation the Regulator expects.
  • Audit evidence: event clips help verify whether exclusion rules and spotter positions work in practice, feeding the audits the Regulator asks for.
  • Contractor oversight: zone alerts can support contractor management on busy benches, as discussed in our post on contractor safety and restricted zone detection.
  • Edge processing: the Flagman Neo device runs analysis on site with no cloud connection needed, which suits remote pits.

Flagman could not have replaced what this incident most clearly called for: planning the pattern so plant and people are separated, effective two-way communication, and properly engineered proximity detection and collision avoidance on the plant itself. Flagman is not a certified collision avoidance or proximity detection system and must not be fitted as one. Explosives loading areas may require hazardous-area-rated equipment. Flagman is not certified for hazardous areas, and a site assessment must confirm whether any camera or device placement is suitable before anything goes near a loaded pattern.

Limitations

  • Flagman does not stop mobile processing units, haul trucks or other mining plant unless the machine’s controls accept an external signal, and it is not a substitute for certified proximity detection or collision avoidance.
  • It is not certified for hazardous areas, explosive atmospheres or underground coal. Explosives areas may need hazardous-area-rated equipment.
  • Detection depends on line of sight, lighting and dust. Blast benches can be dusty and change shape daily, so camera views need regular checks.
  • It does not replace pattern design, separation, spotters, radio protocols or supervision.
  • Consult workers and health and safety representatives before any trial.
  • The NSW Workplace Surveillance Act 2005 requires written notice to workers before camera surveillance begins.

A practical plan for Singleton sites

  1. Review your mobile plant and pedestrian interaction controls in the blasting and mobile plant principal hazard management plans.
  2. Map where people on foot and reversing plant meet during explosives loading, including adjacent rows and turnaround points at the high wall.
  3. Confirm two-way communication rules and spotter positions, and test them on a live pattern.
  4. Assess what proximity detection and collision avoidance is reasonably practicable for the plant you run.
  5. Ask Sharktech Global to assess where AI safety cameras could add visibility in non-hazardous areas, such as plant parking, access tracks and laydown yards.
  6. Consult workers, issue written notice, and run a defined trial with clear review points.
  7. Use event data in regular audits to check whether separation is holding up.

Predictive maintenance: reversing alarms, cameras and plant condition

Reversing controls depend on equipment that works. Reversing alarms, lights, mirrors, cameras and radios all wear out, and a failed component on a mobile processing unit or support vehicle quietly removes a layer of protection. Predictive maintenance in the Hunter Valley often focuses on engines and drivetrains, but safety-critical items deserve the same tracking, along with the cameras and detection devices that watch them.

Sharktech Global builds Business Intelligence dashboards that bring maintenance, downtime and safety data together, including Flagman events. That helps supervisors see whether a spike in close calls lines up with a faulty alarm, a damaged camera or a schedule change, and supports WHS compliance NSW reporting.

Flagman in Australia: delivered by Sharktech Global

Flagman Australia is delivered and supported by Sharktech Global, the exclusive Australian and New Zealand delivery partner for Perleybrook Labs, the developer of Flagman. Sharktech, based in Liverpool, New South Wales, assesses sites, installs and integrates Flagman with cameras and machine controls, and provides local business-hours support. Learn more about Sharktech’s mining managed IT services.

The outcome you can measure

  • Number of logged people and plant interactions in monitored zones, tracked week to week.
  • Time to review and close out each event.
  • Audit findings on separation and spotter controls, before and after changes.
  • Uptime of reversing alarms, cameras and detection devices, tracked as part of predictive maintenance in the Hunter Valley.

Key takeaways

  • Reversing plant near people on foot is a serious drill and blast safety hazard in Singleton mines.
  • The Regulator expects planning, separation, communication, spotters, practicable technology and audits.
  • AI safety cameras in Singleton can add visibility and evidence, but are not certified collision avoidance.
  • Hazardous area suitability must be confirmed by site assessment before any deployment near explosives.

Next step

Request a Flagman safety assessment for your Singleton site, or call Sharktech Global on 0468 017 373.

Sources: NSW Resources Regulator, Investigation Information Release IIR26-05 (August 2026); ABS 2021 Census QuickStats, Singleton LGA. This article is general information only and is not legal advice.