Concrete-Placing Safety Alert

Stop concrete boom rollovers

WorkSafe is reminding anyone who uses concrete-placing equipment to stay alert to the risks and make safety a priority.

Why this matters

There have been several safety incidents involving concrete-placing equipment (particularly truck-mounted concrete boom pumps and placing booms) in recent years, including an increase in rollover events.

In July 2026, an employee was seriously injured when a truck-mounted concrete-placing boom overturned, causing the boom to strike the employee.

Some of the most common issues with truck-mounted concrete-placing booms that can lead to serious injury or death include:

• Setting up near excavations, trenches, holes, cellars, basements, pits, or backfilled ground can create a risk of ground instability and collapse
• ‘Short blocking’ outriggers, not fully extending the outrigger and locking it into position, can create instability and increase the risk of a rollover
• Undersized packing with insufficient strength or load-bearing area, resulting in outriggers sinking into the ground
• Selecting inadequately sized equipment can increase the risk of truck-mounted concrete booms being placed in unsafe areas, like uneven or unstable surfaces.

How can you reduce the risk?

When operating truck-mounted concrete-placing booms, there are some simple but critical steps you should take to help prevent rollovers and other incidents:

• Choose the safest location for the concrete-placing equipment and the size of the equipment to ensure it can safely reach the work area
• Ensure the concrete-placing equipment is set up on reasonably level ground that has adequate surface-bearing capacity to support the fully loaded working pump and any delivery trucks
• Unless approved by a suitably competent person, such as a geotechnical or structural engineer, avoid setting up the concrete-placing equipment near:
  • excavations, trenches or holes.
  • cellars, basements, pits or back-filled ground
• Have a suitably competent person select and install appropriately sized packing, bog mats or road plates
• These should be calculated in accordance with the concrete pump’s safe use information
• Ensure outriggers are extended (swung out if applicable), lowered and locked in position before the boom is erected
• Avoid short-blocking wherever practicable, as there is an increased risk of overturning.

Download this poster and display it in a visible location. It’s a simple step that can start valuable safety conversations with your team.

New Concrete Pumping Industry Standard Now Available

To help reduce the risks across the industry, WorkSafe Victoria, in partnership with industry stakeholders, has updated the Concrete Pumping Industry Standard for the first time since 2004.

The revised standard reflects current industry practices and provides practical guidance to help duty holders safely operate, inspect and maintain concrete pumping equipment.

Download the updated Concrete Industry Standard and visit the WorkSafe website for more information.