A dump inspection checklist is a structured walk of a spoil or waste dump that records the condition of its foundation, face, crest and drainage, and assigns each observation a trigger action response plan (TARP) level so the right response happens without debate. Below is a complete checklist you can use in the field, with Normal, Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 descriptors for every check.
This guide covers what Queensland and New South Wales law requires for dump inspections, how a dump TARP works, what to look at and why, the full checklist, and the ways dump inspections fail in practice.
Why dump inspections matter
Spoil dumps fail differently from highwalls. A wall fails in rock you can see. A dump is loose, recently placed material on a foundation you often cannot see, loaded every shift by trucks tipping at its crest.
Most dump failures announce themselves: cracks open behind the crest, the crest settles, the toe bulges. What goes wrong is that the warning is seen by one person, written on one form, and never reaches the person who can close the dump. An inspection that does not end in a clear decision is only an observation.
What the legislation requires
In Queensland coal, the obligation is direct. Section 117 of the Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 requires a surface mine to have a standard operating procedure for working on spoil dumps and near excavated faces, and that procedure must provide for inspecting and monitoring the spoil dumps and excavated faces. Your dump inspection checklist is where that procedure becomes a record. These provisions apply to Queensland coal mines; metalliferous mines and quarries sit under the Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999 and its own regulation.
Several neighbouring provisions of the same regulation bear on the dump:
- Section 118 requires the safety and health management system to provide for safety berms or other appropriate controls preventing persons and mobile plant from falling over edges with a vertical drop of 1m or more.
- Section 133 requires a standard operating procedure for discharging loads that, for dump trucks, provides for the design, construction and maintenance of safety berms on roads used by the trucks, identifying the risk of trucks overturning, safe dump areas and routes, and methods of working with the trucks.
- Section 139 requires the safety and health management system to provide for constructing and maintaining a safety berm where rear dump trucks are required to dump up to, or over, an edge.
- Section 141 requires a procedure for safety inspections of workplaces that has them done before an activity starts and periodically while it continues, with the results, including hazards and recommended corrective action, made available to coal mine workers.
In New South Wales, ground or strata failure is listed as a principal hazard in section 4 of the Work Health and Safety (Mines and Petroleum Sites) Regulation 2022, so dump stability sits inside a principal hazard management plan. The Resources Regulator’s 2020 slope stability assessment program fact sheet for surface coal lists “dump to design” among the critical controls it assesses: identifying the factors that affect dump stability, building dumps correctly, and making sure dumps are inspected and monitored for compliance. It lists water management as a separate criterion, along with separating people from the hazard once indicators of potential failure are identified, which is exactly what a dump TARP is for. Current guidance and safety alerts are published by the NSW Resources Regulator and Resources Safety and Health Queensland.
Neither jurisdiction prescribes a form. The regulation sets the obligation; your geotechnical assessment sets the triggers. For how dump inspections fit alongside every other statutory inspection on site, see the guide to mine site inspections in Australia.
How a dump TARP works
A trigger action response plan links an observed condition to a predetermined response, taking the judgement call out of the moment. The inspector does not decide whether a crack is worth stopping for; the TARP already decided, and the inspector only has to match what they see to a level.
Many sites use four states. Normal means the dump is behaving as designed. Level 1 means something has changed and needs a closer look. Level 2 means there is evidence of instability and the area must be restricted until a geotechnical engineer assesses it. Level 3 means failure is under way or imminent and people come out. The overall rating for an inspection is the highest level recorded against any single check.
The descriptors in the checklist below are written from geotechnical first principles. Numeric triggers, such as crack widths or settlement rates, must come from your site’s geotechnical assessment and dump design, not from a web page. For the wider case for running TARPs digitally, read digital TARPs in mining, and for a worked example in a different hazard, the TARP for mine roads and vehicle interaction.
What to look at on a spoil dump inspection
The dump itself: type and height
Record whether the dump is paddock dumped, end tipped or built in lifts, and its height against design. End tipping over a high face leaves loose material at its angle of repose and concentrates people at the crest. A dump taller or steeper than design is outside the conditions its stability assessment assumed.
Floor and foundation
Many dump failures start below the dump. Soft, wet or clay-rich foundations, old drainage lines and unstripped weak material can let the base slide. Heave, seepage and soft spots beyond the toe are foundation signals.
Dump condition: cracking, settlement and bulging
Tension cracks parallel to the crest are the classic early sign. Note their distance behind the crest, length, width, any vertical offset, and whether they are new since the last inspection. Settlement shows as a dipping crest or a step in the dump surface. Bulging of the face or toe means material is moving outward.
Material, water and rainfall
Fine, wet or clay-rich material loses strength quickly. Water is the most common aggravating factor: ponding, seepage and heavy rainfall all raise pore pressure. Record rainfall since the last inspection so trends can be read against it.
Crest windrows and new hazards
The windrow at a tip edge is a statutory control, not a courtesy: in Queensland coal, section 139 requires the safety and health management system to provide for it wherever rear dump trucks tip up to or over an edge. Check height against the design for the largest truck using the dump, continuity, and whether it has been undercut or pushed out by dozing. The requirements for berm dimensions are covered in safety berms on mine roads. Finish by asking what is new since last shift.
The dump inspection checklist
Record the level that best matches each check, photograph anything above Normal, and take the highest level as the dump’s rating.
Section A: Dump type, geometry and foundation
| Check | Normal | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dump method and sequence | Dumping to plan, correct method for the area | Minor departure from sequence | Tipping over a face not designed for it | Tipping continuing on a dump rated Level 2 or 3 |
| Dump height and face angle | Within design | Approaching design limit | Exceeds design height or face angle | Oversteepened face actively ravelling |
| Floor and foundation | Firm, dry, prepared to design | Soft patches or minor seepage beyond toe | Heave or soft ground spreading beyond toe | Foundation visibly moving or toe displacing |
Section B: Dump condition
| Check | Normal | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tension cracking behind crest | None | Hairline cracks, no offset, not growing | New or widening cracks, or vertical offset | Cracks opening rapidly or forming a continuous scarp |
| Crest settlement | Crest level and even | Minor local dip | Measurable settlement or step along the crest | Crest dropping progressively during the shift |
| Face and toe bulging | Face regular, toe clean | Small local bulge | Bulging or toe heave along a section | Active movement, material sliding or flowing |
| Ravelling and rockfall | None beyond normal tipping | Occasional ravelling | Frequent ravelling or boulders reaching the toe area | Continuous ravelling or face collapse |
| Monitoring results, where installed | No movement trend | Movement within expected range | Movement trend accelerating | Alarm threshold reached |
Section C: Material, water and rainfall
| Check | Normal | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material type | As designed for this dump | Some fine or wet loads mixed in | Significant clay-rich, saturated or unsuitable material | Material flowing rather than standing |
| Surface water and ponding | Surface draining away from crest | Minor ponding away from crest | Ponding near crest or water entering cracks | Water flowing through cracks or into the dump |
| Seepage from face or toe | None | Damp patches | Active seepage | Seepage carrying fines or increasing quickly |
| Rainfall since last inspection | Below site trigger | At site trigger | Above site trigger, dump not yet reassessed | Heavy rain continuing with any Level 2 condition present |
Section D: Crest windrows, access and new hazards
| Check | Normal | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crest windrow height and condition | Continuous, to design for largest truck | Minor low spots | Gaps, undercut or below design | Windrow missing at an active tip edge |
| Tip head delineation and lighting | Clearly marked, lit for night work | Markers or lighting partly missing | Tip edge unclear at night or in dust | No usable delineation at an active tip |
| Access and exclusion zones | Signed and barricaded as required | Signage damaged | Barricade breached or not in place | People or plant inside a closed zone |
| New hazards | None | Change noted, controls in place | Change noted, controls not in place | Immediate danger identified |
TARP responses
| Level | What it means | Typical response |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | Dump performing as designed | Continue. Inspect at the normal frequency. |
| Level 1 | A change worth watching | Notify the supervisor. Increase inspection frequency. Photograph and mark the location. |
| Level 2 | Evidence of instability | Stop tipping at the affected section. Restrict access. Notify the open cut examiner or supervisor and the geotechnical engineer. No work resumes until the engineer has assessed it. |
| Level 3 | Failure under way or imminent | Withdraw people and plant. Close the area. Notify the site’s statutory officeholders and follow the emergency response. Reopen only on engineering sign-off. |
Adjust the responses to your site’s approved TARP and principal hazard management plan. If your dump operations include coal stockpiles or product tip heads, add the checks in stockpile and tip head safety.
Where dump inspections go wrong
- The form records a tick, not a level. “Cracks: yes” tells the next person nothing about whether to stop tipping.
- No comparison with last time. A crack that was hairline yesterday and is open today matters. Without photos and locations, change is invisible.
- Rain is not a trigger. Dumps are inspected on the normal cycle through a wet week, when water is the factor most likely to tip them over.
- The escalation stops at the form. Level 2 is recorded, but the dump stays open because the engineer never heard about it.
- Observations are never joined up. Night shift sees a crack at the crest; day shift sees seepage at the toe. Nobody connects them.
The same pattern, a checklist that looks complete but proves nothing, is the subject of why general checklists create a false sense of safety. The adjacent inspections have the same shape: the highwall inspection checklist covers excavated faces, and the haul road inspection checklist covers the routes trucks use to reach the dump.
Getting the TARP level from the dump to the decision
The hard part of a dump TARP is not writing the descriptors. It is making sure a Level 2 found at 3am on the far side of the dump is known, located and acted on before the next truck tips there. On paper, the level lives on a form in a crib room.
In HazView, the TARP level is carried in the answer options of the checklist itself, so the rating comes out of the inspection rather than being assigned afterwards. A Level 2 answer can open a follow-up section that asks for the extent, a photo and the immediate control. The checklist can be pinned to its location on the mine map or attached to the dump hazard, where the rating and the area state (open, restricted or closed) are visible to every role, alongside slope monitoring radar and survey layers. It works offline on the dump and syncs when back in reception, and the site’s own form is converted like for like first. See how this works for geotechnical engineers using HazView, or book a demo to walk through a dump inspection on your own map.
Related guides
- Mine Site Inspections in Australia: What the Law Requires, What to Check and What a Defensible Record Looks Like
- Highwall and Excavated Wall Inspection Checklist for Open Cut Mines
- Choosing Inspection Software for an Australian Mine Site: A Buyer’s Checklist
- Going Paperless on a Mine Site: Digital Inspections That Hold Up
- All Inspections & Checklists guides
Frequently asked questions
Is a dump inspection a legal requirement?
In Queensland coal mines, yes in substance. Section 117 of the Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 requires a standard operating procedure for working on spoil dumps that provides for inspecting and monitoring them. In New South Wales, ground or strata failure is a principal hazard, and the regulator expects dumps to be inspected and monitored for compliance with design.
How often should a spoil dump be inspected?
The legislation does not set a frequency. It comes from your procedure and risk assessment. Active tip heads are commonly inspected every shift, with extra inspections after heavy rain, after any Level 1 or higher finding, and before work resumes on a restricted area.
Who should carry out a dump stability inspection?
Shift inspections are usually done by a competent person nominated in the procedure. Level 2 and Level 3 conditions need assessment by a geotechnical engineer before tipping resumes.
What is the difference between a spoil dump TARP and a highwall TARP?
Same structure, different triggers. Dump TARPs weigh foundation condition, water and the loose nature of placed material more heavily. Highwall TARPs focus on structure in the rock, blast damage and rockfall from the face.
Can I use this waste dump inspection checklist as it is?
Use it as a starting point. The descriptors are generic. Your geotechnical engineer should set the numeric triggers, and the responses must match your site’s approved TARP and principal hazard management plan.