Australian gold mining company Avoca Mining has been fined A$35,000 in Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court following an incident in 2015 where a worker was struck by a jib attachment and injured.
Production coordinator Dennis Taylor was injured on 6 February 2015 at the company’s Higginsville mine, 45km north of Norseman in Western Australia. Taylor and a co-worker were attempting to extend the jib when a build-up of material prevented it from extending properly. As the co-worker shook the jib to remove the material, Taylor walked alongside the jib, when it detached and struck his torso. He suffered fractured ribs and compression fractures to vertebrae.
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Safety director at the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety Andrew Chaplyn said: “Mr Taylor’s co-worker wasn’t aware of the company’s safety processes and procedures for operating the IT [integrated tool carrier]. This included the requirement to conduct a prestart check on the IT and jib, the procedure for checking whether work tools were properly attached to the IT and requirements around conducting a job hazard analysis.”
Avoca, which merged with Anatolia Minerals Development in 2011 to form Alacer Gold, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a safe working environment. Despite being an experienced and qualified operator, Taylor’s co-worker had not received specific training on the IT he was operating. In addition, the mine did not have a copy of the IT’s training manual on-site.
Chaplyn continued: “This incident should not have happened. Maintaining exclusion zones around operating machinery is a simple and cost-effective way of reducing the risk of being exposed to uncontrolled movement of equipment.
“The impact on Mr Taylor and his co-worker was significant. It is another reminder of the importance of safety and what can happen when safety isn’t given the priority it deserves.”
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By GlobalDataAvoca was also fined A$20,000 last June following charges related to the secure storage of explosives. Over 100kg of explosives were stolen from the Higginsville mine in 2015 due to the ‘illegal conduct of a trusted employee’, according to Department of Mines chief dangerous goods officer Ross Stidolph.
