Process Minerals International Pty Ltd has been fined $90,000 after it pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to provide a safe working environment.
| Date: | Monday, 05 October 2015 |
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Process Minerals International Pty Ltd, the operator of the Woodie Woodie fines treatment plant, has been fined $90,000 after it pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to provide a safe working environment after a worker was seriously injured in 2012.
The charges were laid following a DMP investigation.
On 25 and 31 October 2012, Process Minerals failed to provide a procedure for workers to safely unload pipes from a truck.
Worker Meliton Garcia and another worker were unloading 20 metre long polyethylene pipes from a truck on 31 October.
The pair were involved in rigging the pipes to a crane before they were unloaded from the truck.
Mr Garcia was injured after he was struck by one of the one tonne pipes. He was swept off the stack of pipes and fell approximately four metres.
Department of Mines and Petroleum Director Mines Safety and State Mining Engineer Andrew Chaplyn said falls from height are a major cause of fatalities on mine sites despite being easily preventable.
“There was a genuine risk that workers could have been killed and it was only luck that the consequences were not much worse,” Mr Chaplyn said.
“It is incidents such as this that provide a stark reminder for industry to take the risk of fall from height seriously.
“In this case, the workers were not provided with a safe system of work and were unnecessarily exposed to a serious hazard.
“”This decision sends an important message about ensuring safety is given the highest priority on Western Australia’s mine sites.”
The charges were laid following a DMP investigation into an incident that seriously injured a worker in 2012.
