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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.