End mining exemption
WHEN the Queensland Government proposed new laws in 2017 allowing bosses to be prosecuted for workplace fatalities, one of the state’s biggest industries was let off the hook.
The resources sector was not captured by industrial manslaughter legislation, which introduced fines of up to $10 million for companies found to have negligently caused deaths of employees.
The legislation also imposed jail terms of up to 20 years on individuals found guilty of the same offence.
Mining companies demanded they be excluded, arguing the laws would create a “finger-pointing culture” rather than addressing systemic and organisational problems.
Their peak lobby group, the Queensland Resources Council, even suggested the reforms would actually make the sector more dangerous as the fear of prosecution could prevent workers from speaking up about safety issues.
Accepting this argument and allowing management, who are responsible for and directly determine the culture of their workplaces, to hide behind the frontline workers was clearly a mistake.
In just over a year, six workers have lost their lives in mines and quarries across Queensland. The annual toll is usually far lower.
Only one person died in the previous financial year, for example.
The recent spate of tragedies sparked crisis talks between the State Government, unions, companies and staff.
The Minister for Natural Resources, Mines, and Energy, Dr Anthony Lynham, announced two independent expert reviews as well as the appointment of additional safety inspectors.
Each of these measures is welcome, but none of them addresses the obvious gaps in the law.
The Queensland Government should move an amendment as soon as possible to ensure mining bosses can also be prosecuted under the industrial manslaughter regime.
If Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has any reservations about how this might play out politically, a recent opinion poll by The Courier-mail and Yougov should put her mind at ease.
According to the poll, 76 per cent of Queenslanders are in favour of extending the laws to the sector, with only 11 per cent against and 13 per cent unsure.
There is no doubt in my mind that such a move would act as a powerful incentive for mining companies to lift their game.
At Shine Lawyers, we know all too well how poor occupational health and safety practices in the industry can destroy lives.
In November 2016, Robert Hodgson was operating an excavator at the Coppabella Mine following inadequate blasting when the machine’s bucket struck a section of hard rock.
The 49-year-old had enough experience to know a heavier and more powerful piece of machinery was needed to safely remove the rock, but his requests for a large bulldozer with which to break the rock were denied. Twice.
When Mr Hodgson resumed digging with the excavator as instructed, the rock split in two, causing the bucket to drop 3m to the surface below.
The force of this sudden drop resulted in the Proserpine resident being thrown forward inside the cabin, causing him significant spinal injuries.
Mr Hodgson has been left with a permanent disability and remains unable to work.
What frustrates me is the risk of harm to our client was entirely foreseeable and avoidable.
In a separate case, Adrian Vicary was working at Glencore’s Oaky North Mine in the Bowen Basin in 2017 when he suffered diesel inhalation poisoning.
Mr Vicary said his health deteriorated dramatically.
One day he was perfectly fine, the next he couldn’t cross the road as he could hardly breathe.
Stories like these alarmingly common.
It should therefore come as no surprise that Workcover claims from Queensland’s trouble-plagued mining inare dustry are continuing to grow.
The resources sector should have cleaned up its act when it was exempted from the industrial manslaughter laws in 2017. Instead, things have gotten worse.
The time has come to right this wrong. Let’s ensure mining companies play by the same rules as other employers in the state.
They can’t dig their way out of their responsibility to provide a safe workplace for all of their workers.
Garreth Turner is the Townsville branch manager and special counsel at Shine Lawyers.