Safety Update (Issue 16)

Fatality Report—Iron Ore Plant

A gas explosion/jet fire in the reactor of an iron ore plant resulted injuries to eight employees in Port Hedland WA, on the midnight of 19/20 May. One of the injured persons succumbed to his injuries on the evening of 21 May.

Three of the other employees suffered serious injuries and the other four had minor injuries.

A team of officers including a District/Mining Inspector, Special Inspector-Machinery and Special Inspector-Chemical/Process Engineering are investigating the accident.

The plant has four trains and each train has four reactors. The reactors are used to reduce oxide iron ore into iron. Fine ore is introduced into the reactors from one end and from the other end hot hydrogen/carbon monoxide gas mixture is introduced for reduction of iron ore.

The accident occurred in a reactor when a dip-leg was being cleaned. The train had been shut down, allowed to cool and purged with cool gases before cleaning of the dip-legs began. The dip-legs are 16-18m tall x about 0.5m in diameter vertical columns in a reactor. During the process, the dip-legs blocked due to deposition of product and needed to be cleaned. The dip-leg had been drilled through by an auger drill and was being cleaned by hydro blasting when the explosion occurred.

The reduced product reacts with water at elevated temperatures to produce hydrogen gas, which is highly explosive. Before water can be introduced into a reactor it should be ensured that it has been cooled to a safe level.

Fatality Report—Iron Ore Mine

A 20-year-old Apprentice Fitter received a head injury at an iron ore mine in Western Australia on the 20 May 2004 to which he succumbed later on 21 May 2004 at about 7:15pm.

The deceased was tightening a suspension strut on a CAT 785 haul truck using a snap on, 250lb ratchet type torque wrench. The torque wrench struck the deceased in the head causing fatal injury.

The deceased was in a crouching position on top of a steel work-bench handling the torque multiplier and torque wrench. He was in front of the strut. His assistant was behind the strut. It seems that the bolt had been satisfactorily torqued and the deceased was either going to recheck the bolt or to begin another. To do either job it was necessary to release the multiplier and the wrench and to start again. This is when the accident happened.

Externally the torque wrench appeared in good condition. The wrench will be examined and tested by an independent competent person.

District Inspector of Mines and Special Inspector-Machinery are investigating into the accident.

Fatality Report—Tyre Fitting Incident

A fatal incident occurred at Mount Thorley Warkworth, NSW on the night of 28 May 2004.

 A contractor from a tyre fitting company died as a result of injuries sustained when he was caught between the tyre fitting truck and the tyre held in the hydraulic handler.

Our thoughts and sympathies go out to the family, friends and workmates of the deceased.

Those people closest to the incident said the emergency response team acted quickly and professionally to administer medical treatment before the injured man was airlifted to John Hunter Hospital.

All operations were suspended at Mount Thorley, Warkworth and employees were given counselling and asked to go home. The site was closed until approximately 6pm Saturday night with on-coming crews being briefed before shift start. Counselling continues to be available to all employees.

An incident review team will be assembled to conduct an internal investigation. The Department of Mineral Resources will also be conducting investigations. These investigations are expected to take some time to complete.

Fatality Report—Mine Collapse

A man died after a partial mine collapse in the NSW Hunter Valley on the 28 May 2004.

The contractor was working at Anglo Coal’s Dartbrook Mine, 10km north-west of Muswellbrook, when he was trapped underground shortly before 2pm (AEST).

The company said the man died after being pinned under a rockfall but would not release any details about what caused the accident.

An ambulance spokesman said the man was in cardiac arrest when a CareFlight helicopter from Newcastle and an ambulance crew from Muswellbrook arrived.

“Despite the best efforts of the emergency services, the man died underground,” the ambulance spokesman said.

An inspector from the Department of Mineral Resources had been examining the site and would prepare a preliminary investigation for the coroner, a department spokeswoman said. Anglo Coal said the matter was in the hands of the police.

“At this stage the matter is in the hands of the police, and therefore we are unable to comment further except to offer our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the accident victim,” the company said.

DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES

Hymix Prosecution

On 27 November 2002, Mr Gary Holloway, employed as a driller at the Carisbrook quarry of Hymix Australia Pty Ltd, became entangled around the drill rod of the surface drilling machine he was operating.  Mr Holloway suffered fatal injuries as a result of this incident.

An investigation of the incident that led to Mr Holloway’s death was conducted by the DPI.   A brief was prepared and provided to the Department’s prosecutor and to the State Coroner.

At the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court Hymix Australia P/L (Hymix) entered a plea of guilty to two charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1985 (the Act).

The charges read:-

– the defendant did fail to make arrangements for ensuring so far as was practicable safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use handling storage and transport of plant and substances by failing to ensure adequate arrangements for the changing of drill steels contrary to the Act s21(2)(b), and

– the defendant did fail to provide such supervision to employees as was necessary to enable employees to perform their work in a manner that was safe and without risks to health contrary to the Act s21(2)(e).

The Department’s prosecutor  Mr Richard Desmond gave a summary of the facts and the law, and Mr Olle for Hymix made submissions on penalty.

The Magistrate (Ms J. Patrick) noted that these cases are never easy, and indicated that:-

– the Act places significant responsibilities on employers, whilst experienced employees may lose concentration and/or use different work methods,

–  the employer must guard against this, the risks associated with this incident had been clearly identified to the employer, but despite this had not been eliminated,

– a quarry is intrinsically dangerous, what has been done since the incident is impressive, however little had been done before the incident.

The Magistrate acknowledged that Hymix had a good record and had expressed regret and remorse.

The Magistrate ordered with conviction a fine of $60, 000 (aggregate), and awarded $1,500 prosecution costs.

John Mitas
Chief Inspector of Mines, DPI

DPI Relocation

As of July 2004, the Department of Primary Industries is moving to One Spring Street, Melbourne. The new details are:

Minerals and Petroleum Business Centre
Department of Primary Industries
Level 16, One Spring Street
Melbourne, VIC 3001
(03) 9658 4600
(03) 9658 4460
GPO Box 4440, Melbourne, VIC 3001

Completion of Statistical Returns

All Work Authority holders would have recently received their statistical returns for the 2003-04 financial year.

According to John Mitas from the DPI, for the purposes of reporting the number of persons working at quarries and working hours the following definition should be used:

“All employees including office staff and all contractors and sub-contractors working within the work authority should be included.

Contractors and sub-contractors employed by the quarry to deliver  material should also be included, however ex-bin carriers are to be excluded..”

New Department Secretary

Acting Premier, John Thwaites, announced the appointment of Peter Harris as the new Secretary of the DPI.

The appointment is to take effect later this year for a period of five years.

“The Secretary of the DPI fulfils a vital role. The department provides advice to Government on the sustainable development of Victoria’s minerals industry,” Mr Thwaites said.

Mr Harris has a valuable experience across other levels of Government, both here and overseas, and has a degree in economics.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login