$750K fine follows worker's sleeve getting caught in a nip point

A mining services company has been fined $750,000 — and ordered to pay $6702.70 in costs — after a heavy diesel mechanic became entangled in a stacker after getting their sleeve caught in a nip point.

The incident occurred in April 2022 at a gold mine 20 km west of Kalgoorlie. The company-employed mechanic — who had 15 years’ experience — was performing recurring maintenance on a stacker while it was in use, the stacker’s unguarded side access port enabling the heavy diesel mechanic to reach some of the operating machinery’s moving parts.

The company pleaded guilty to contravening sections 19(1) and 31(1) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2020, having failed to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, the health and safety of a worker, a failure that caused serious harm to an individual. In this case, the worker suffered a serious crush injury and a left humerus fracture.

The company “could have easily and inexpensively enforced isolation procedures to ensure the stacker was de-energised before any worker accessed the tail drum roller via the side access port to remove material from the conveyor belt tracking adjusters,” WorkSafe WA Commissioner Sally North said.

If the company “had taken that reasonably practical measure”, North added, “it would have reduced the risk of the heavy diesel mechanic becoming entangled in the stacker, and consequently, the risk of the worker sustaining the serious injuries that they suffered in their workplace.”

The company had various procedures in place, including the Isolation and Tagging — Bulk Haulage Procedure that described the process for isolation and tagging of plant and equipment, which the fitter was aware of at the time of the incident, and an established job hazard analysis procedure on the site. But site workers were not provided with either a safe work procedure/statement or job hazard analysis specific to clearing material on the adjustors of the belt of the stacker.

When the company received the stacker in December 2020, it had guarding installed. However, the guarding around the stacker’s side access port and tail drum roller had been absent since the company commissioned its use at the incident site in May 2021. Following the incident, the company removed the stacker from service.

Image credit: iStock.com/Mikhail Dmitriev. Stock image used is for illustrative purposes only.