Leaf Resources and safety officer face charges over near-fatal blast

Bundaberg plant explosion blinds worker; safety failures alleged as ‘natural’ chemical company faces court.

Grant Yeatman, health and safety officer at the time of the explosion, pleaded not guilty to one charge of failure to comply with health and safety duty - category 2. The ‘natural’ chemical extraction company, Leaf Resources, has also been charged.

The health and safety officer of a company behind a natural chemical processing plant at the centre of an explosion that severely injured a contractor will fight charges relating to the incident in court.

Emergency services rushed to the scene of a reported explosion at the plant in Isis Central on November 12, 2021.

Several staff were on site at the time of the blast, including a contractor who had been called in to repair an electrical fault in the machinery.

A spokeswoman for the Queensland Ambulance Services said the male patient was treated at the scene for significant injuries to his head.

He was later rushed to Bundaberg Base Hospital in a potentially life threatening condition for emergency treatment.

In court on Monday, Grant Yeatman, the acting health and safety officer at the time of the explosion, pleaded not guilty to one charge of failure to comply with health and safety duty - category 2.

Leaf Resources LTD, the company behind the innovative pine terpene and rosin extraction plant in Isis Central, also faces the same charge in relation to the near fatal explosion.

Police documents reveal the explosion occurred about 9.30pm on November 12, 2021.

Three workers and one contracted electrician called to fix the electrical disturbance were on site at the time.

Prosecutor Sarah Cartilage told the court that several problems occurred in the hours before the blast.

Given the state the plant was in, it “should not have been energised” she said.

About 8am on the morning of the explosion, a blockage in the ‘chute’ was cleared by hand by workers.

The plant was later struck by lighting about 11am, and David Campbell, the electrician seriously injured in the subsequent blast, arrived at the site about 5pm to fix a suspected electrical fault.

Later in the afternoon, a worker activated the fire suppression system after smelling a smoldering event. It remained on for an hour before he turned it off again.

He returned later and observed no changes.

Police documents reveal at the time of the explosion, “the workers were in the enclosed control room” described as a large galvanised shed in the north/west corner of the plant.

“Upon attempting to rectify the power issue, a large explosion has occurred and is believed to have come from a large extractor tank located on the western side of the shed”, the report continues.

Grant Yeatman leaving Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Wednesday, charged with one count of failure to comply with health and safety duty - category 2.

Mr Campbell sustained significant facial injuries including loss of sight in his right eye, the other three other workers were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Initial reports did not confirm the explosions' cause, which occurred in the extractor - machinery that extracts natural chemicals from pine wood for use in everyday products - but the extractor had been temporarily shut down from rosin production after multiple operational faults, including blockages and a broken conveyor belt.

Additionally, the lightning strike reportedly damaged the controller.

Ms Cartledge told the court approximately 5000L of concentrate — liquid formed when turpentine is sprayed onto wood chips inside the machinery — and turpentine oils remained in the extractor, which experienced two smoldering events before the explosion.

The chief advisor for hazardous chemicals, outlined in a report, said the explosion occurred when vapours from the pine concentrate oils mixed with air and coincided with an emission source, yet to be determined.

Ms Cartledge told the court the chief advisor said the emission source could have be the result of smoldering wood chips or naked flame within the extractor, the discharge of static electricity, or a spark from outside the extractor from electrical equipment or power outlet near the machinery.

A colossal brief containing up to 2,500 exhibits was prepared for the case. Both parties are now jointly working to reduce this number for the benefit of the court.

Key experts and witnesses are expected to give evidence into operation of the plant, which will play out in open court before Bundaberg Magistrate Court in the coming months.

The matter has been adjourned to a later date.