Company fined $90,000 after mine worker injured

Process Minerals International has been fined $90,000 for failing to provide a safe working environment after a worker was seriously injured in 2012.

The Woodie Woodie mine process plant contractor failed to provide a procedure for workers to safely unload pipes from a truck on October 25 and 31, 2012.

Worker Meliton Garcia and another worker were unloading 20m-long polyethylene pipes from a truck on October 31, rigging the pipes to a crane before they were unloaded from the truck.

Mr Garcia was swept off the stack of pipes and fell four metres after being struck by one of the one tonne pipes.

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.”