Bowen Basin miner Steven Andrew Heathcote wins push to sue Oaky Creek Coal Pty Ltd over heart attack after rescuing workmate

His brave actions started a chain reaction that ultimately forced him to resign from his high-paying job – now he wants to sue his former employer.

A tradie who suffered a heart attack after risking his own life to rescue a workmate trapped under fallen coal at a Central Queensland mine has successfully won his push to due him former employer.

In 2019, Steven Andrew Heathcote was forced to resign his $120,000 a year job over serious health issues resulting in a 40 per cent whole person impairment.

The 53 year old had been on nightshift when the incident occurred on March 27, 2013 at Oak Creek coal mine, at Tieri.

About 8pm Warren Nunn was driving a dozer pushing coal onto a stockpile when the vehicle fell backwards into a void.

Mr Heathcote was part of the emergency response team.

He ran 300 metres to the top of the stacker and saw the dozer completely engulfed by coal with only the blade exposed.

He helped co-ordinate an excavator to dig coal away from the dozer, which had slid backwards and was “almost vertical”.

Steven Andrew Heathcote risked his own life to help a workmate trapped in a collapsed coal stockpile.

“This took time, and as the cabin of the bulldozer had become engulfed there was reasonable concern that the oxygen supply in the cabin could be exhausted,” Justice Graeme Crow said in a recent judgment.

“Difficult decisions had to be made, namely whether to attempt a ‘snatch and grab’, that is, with the deployment of the ladder by putting the rescue workers’ lives at risk to attempt to save Mr Nunn’s life.

“Or to continue with the excavation which may have caused the stockpile to further collapse, resulting in Mr Nunn’s death.”

Court documents revealed the mine manager made the difficult choice to attempt a snatch and grab – as a result Mr Heathcote climbed into the stockpile under the surface of the trench and place the ladder on the dozer.

Mr Nunn was then able to climb up the ladder and was successfully rescued.

Afterwards Mr Heathcote felt unwell – he felt he had indigestion, was sweating and thirsty.

About 45 minutes later paramedics took him to Emerald Hospital and an hour later he was flown to Prince Charles Hospital soon after where he underwent a coronary angiogram on March 28 and doctors inserted a stent.

The incident was deemed a work injury and Mr Heathcote received worker’s compensation six years later totalling $425,785 – he did not make a claim until December 2019.

However leading up to November 2019 Mr Heathcote’s heart was failing and he was suffering from increasing difficulties.

“He found that he was breathless and dizzy if required to exert himself by walking up the stairs of the wash plant,” Justice Crow said.

He was required to pass a five-yearly coal board medical and had one due in November 2019.

Ultimately after working in the mining and heavy industry for about 36 years, Mr Heathcote did not want to be “blocked off site” and resigned his employment on November 7, 2019.

The statute of limitations on this type of personal injuries claim ended in 2016, but Mr Heathcote applied to the supreme court to extend that time frame allowing him to file a lawsuit against Oaky Creek Coal Pty Ltd.

Justice Crow found Mr Heathcote “had a worthwhile case” when he received the incident cause analysis method report into the stockpile collapse in March 2021.

“I conclude that Mr Heathcote has shown that he was not in possession of all material facts of a relevant nature, nor were they within his means of knowledge until his receipt of the ICAM report on 30 March 2021,” Justice Crow said.

“In my view, Mr Heathcote did make a reasonable decision to try to get on with his life, rather than a decision to litigate upon a questionable basis and accordingly this application is granted.”