Fine over BHP Billiton Olympic Dam fatality

South Australian Industrial Magistrate Ardlie recently fined BHP Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation $76,000 for failing to ensure, so far is reasonably practicable, that its employee was safe from injury and risks to health while at work.

The company received its penalty after pleading guilty to Section 19(1) of the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986.

The employee, a Refractory Coordinator at the Olympic Dam site, was fatally injured during a routine smelter shutdown at the plant in 2007. He was involved in the clean-up process following the inspection and repair of the brick lining of a humidifier.

As part of a maintenance task during the shutdown, riggers were required to work overhead to remove water-spray cooling nozzles which were located in the roof of the humidifier. Three nozzles were successfully removed and placed on the ground. However, during removal of the fourth nozzle, the top section became caught in an overhead beam resulting in pressure being placed on the nozzle in a jammed position. Part of the nozzle then broke and fell into the humidifier, fatally striking the worker, some 14 m below.

In handing down his judgment, Industrial Magistrate Ardlie said that two activities had overlapped with tragic consequences, noting that the defendant did have a comprehensive system relating to workplace safety in place at the time of the incident: “The system was such that, if it had been adhered to, the incident would not have happened.”

The Magistrate said that measures undertaken since the incident mean that a like incident is unlikely to happen again in the workplace.

SafeWork SA Executive Director Michele Patterson said the case is a sobering example of the hazards that can be encountered in the mining industry: “This is a tragic example of what can happen when a change in procedure is not effectively communicated.”