• The mast was not perfectly aligned during installation, and therefore the spring-loaded locking pin only partially engaged.
• No instruction manual or written procedure for deployment was available.

Mobile lighting towers are used throughout the resources sector, but are probably not included as a potential hazard when risk assessing a job requiring illumination. However, towers typically range from 7 to 12 metres in height when fully extended, and can weigh hundreds of kilograms. Therefore they can represent a significant falling object hazard if the tower is not properly secured.

To help control this hazard:

• provide workers with adequate information, such as manuals and procedures, to ensure installations are performed correctly
• implement routine double-checks (preferably independent) for plant installations (e.g. another worker to confirm that all locking mechanisms are fully engaged in lighting towers).