Claim industry safety and health representative not told about Byerwen mine rollover for 4 hours
The CFMEU said a mine truck rollover in Central Queensland ‘should be treated with the ‘seriousness it deserves’.
Mackay
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A serious allegation has been levelled against a mine operator in the wake of a reported truck rollover which left a man injured at its Central Queensland site.
CFMEU Mining and Energy Queensland president Stephen Smyth said Byerwen mine senior leaders took hours to inform the industry safety and health representative, also known as an ISHR, about Thursday’s safety incident near Glenden.
A 20-year-old man, the driver of the truck, was in a stable condition at Mackay Base Hospital on Friday after suffering facial injuries.
Mr Smyth alleged the ISHR was not told about the safety incident until four hours after it occurred, which he said was a potential breach of industry safety laws.
He said the lack of immediate notification of the incident to the ISHR could be a breach of the legislation.
“As soon as it comes to (the site senior executive’s) knowledge, it should be reported to the ISHR,” Mr Smyth said.
“If you’re a SSE of the mine site or a manager, you’ll become aware of (an incident such as this) immediately after it happens.
“It is disappointing.”
Mine operator QCoal was contacted for comment.
Mr Smyth urged industry regulator Resources Safety and Health Queensland to look into the matter.
“The regulator needs to take them to task over that – that’s their role as the regulator,” he said.
“They should treat this with the seriousness it deserves.”
Mr Smyth said he understood Thursday’s incident occurred when a truck rolled backwards down a ramp, but this was unable to be verified.
A Resources Safety and Health Queensland spokeswoman said the Byerwen mine SSE reported a high potential incident involving a truck rollover on June 3.
“RSHQ secured the incident scene and is reviewing information relating to the incident and the mine operator’s first response,” she said.
“The mine operator is conducting an investigation into the incident as required under legislation.”
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Burdekin MP Dale Last said the safety of workers must be the mining industry’s number one priority.
“We need to get to the bottom of what caused this incident and, if there are steps that can be taken to avoid it happening again, then those steps must be taken as a matter of urgency,” Mr Last said.
“Concerns about practices within the mining regulator have been raised for some time now and, as we saw at the (Queensland) Coal Mining Board of Inquiry, there are systemic issues that need to be addressed.
“As far as the operator of mine is concerned, I would expect them to put in place any necessary changes or improvements as a matter of urgency.”
Both Mr Smyth and Mr Last said their thoughts were with the injured worker at this time.
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