Executive summary
On Wednesday 11 March 1999, at approximately 1120 hours, a head-on collision occurred between the middle ferry shunt and the siding shunt at Wellington ferry terminal. The locomotive engineer's seat in the siding shunt locomotive was torn from its mountings, and the locomotive engineer was propelled to the front of the cab, sustaining lacerations and concussion. Two shunters riding on the leading ends of their respective shunts were able to jump clear before the collision.
The safety deficiencies identified included:
• the failure of existing procedures to prevent a head-on collision involving opposing shunt movements
• the lack of understanding of staff as to the application of the procedures to be adopted when entering the work area of another shunt.
Two safety recommendations were made to address these issues.