Hazelwood Power guilty after mine fire, court rules

Hazelwood Mine’s operator has been convicted after a Melbourne Supreme Court jury found it had exposed workers and the public to dangerous conditions during a major fire in 2014. Hazelwood Power Corporation was found guilty of 10 of 12 charges under Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act, despite pleading not guilty to all alleged breaches, according to WorkSafe Victoria. The company was convicted of five counts of failing to provide a safe working environment, so far as reasonably practicable, for its employees under section 21 (1) and (2) (c) of the OHS Act and another five for failing to ensure persons other than employees were not exposed to health and safety risks, as required under section 23 (1), WorkSafe Victoria said.

WorkSafe Victoria said the company failed to adequately assess the risk of fire in the mine from external sources, such as bushfire, or have an adequate reticulated fire water pipe system to the northern batters (sloping walls) of the mine, or slash vegetation on the face of the mine’s northern batters. Further, the company failed to have sufficient staff numbers and expertise to suppress and instantly fight any fires that might take hold in and around the mine over the weekend of 8 and 9 February 2014 or start wetting down the northern batters on the Sunday morning, that same weekend, despite the extreme fire danger forecast. The company was found not guilty of two charges of failing to install an alternate power supply to operate the mine fire water system.

WorkSafe Victoria Chief of Business Operations Marnie Williams said the fire had a ‘devastating impact’ on the many workers and emergency personnel who fought the blaze, as well as thousands of nearby residents in Latrobe Valley. “We welcome the jury’s finding today that the company should have been much better prepared for the risk of fire, especially considering previous fires at the mine and the extreme weather conditions forecast that weekend in February 2014,” Williams said. “This verdict sends a clear warning to all employers that WorkSafe can and will prosecute them if they fail to put the safety of not only their workers, but also the community, first.”

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