Court orders retrial over death of HWE worker at BHP’s Yandi mine
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Western Australian Department of Mines and Petroleum has renewed its prosecution of HWE Mining after the Supreme Court upheld an appeal against the mining contractor.
The Supreme Court has ordered a retrial against HWE, which was acquitted on a charge of failing to provide a safe work environment, which resulted in the death of an employee in 2008.
The incident took place at the Yandi iron-ore mine, which HWE is operating for mining giant BHP Billiton, with the death resulting from a collision between a light vehicle and a haul truck.
Ten days earlier, the life of another HWE Mining employee was claimed at the mine site.
The appeal was based on more than 20 grounds, with prosecutors claiming the magistrate overseeing the case had failed to take into account whether HWE had taken enough steps to avoid the incident.
State mining engineer Simon Ridge said on Friday that it was important that companies that breached their legal obligations to keep employees safe should be pursued through the courts.
“As a department, this is what we do and will continue to do,” Ridge said.
The state government was also pursuing a prosecution against BHP relating to the same incident, which was yet to be heard by the Magistrates Court.
Ridge said that the department was currently conducting three prosecutions, with a further 11 pending.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation