Young Mining Company has been determined to be responsible for an employee’s partial burial at the Thuddungra mine, 290km west of Sydney.
The New South Wales District Court recently found both the magnesium producer, owned by the India-headquartered Orind Group, and its director, Aditya Jhunjhunwala, guilty of workplace health and safety offences.
The charges relate to mine worker Leslie Price, who slipped and fell into an unguarded conveyor belt chute at 3pm on 10 August 2021.
Price was hospitalised for three days after his chest was crushed, his rib fractured, and his lumbar spine injured from being covered by rocks. He was freed after two colleagues spent 20 minutes digging him out by hand.
Judge Andrew Scotting rejected not guilty pleas from both the company and Jhunjhunwala because they failed to act despite knowing the risks posed by unsafe working conditions.
“Young Mining Company took no steps to control a risk of death or serious injury, when it had actual knowledge of the risk and how to control the risk — and the control measures were simple, convenient, and inexpensive,” Scotting says in the final judgment.
“Young Mining Company had in place a documented safety management system that would have been effective, but it chose not to implement it… [and] I am satisfied that Young Mining Company made expenditure decisions that prioritised production over safety.”
Another employee reveals the equipment was “poorly maintained”. The conveyor belt failed to move, even though the motor still operated. Furthermore, safety forms had not been updated, and procedures were not rolled out.
“The photometric plant was in a state of disrepair and poorly maintained over an extended period of time, with inadequate guarding and inadequate emergency stop controls,” Scotting says.
“Safety documents at the mine were not up to date, and the procedures set out in them were not being implemented at the mine.”
The judge found the employer guilty of exposing Price to risk of death or serious injury and engaging in that conduct with gross negligence and also found Jhunjhunwala guilty of failing to comply with a health and safety duty, exposing Price to risk of death or serious injury.
A sentence will be handed down in the coming months.
Young Mining Company is a magnesium exploration company with assets mainly in Australia.
Write to Richard Szabo at Mining.com.au
Images: Tim Altmann via Unsplash
