Carborough Downs Mine Management pleads guilty to safety failures which led to death of Brad Duxbury, injuries to Cameron Best

A Bowen Basin coal company didn’t use the safety systems which could have saved the life of an Ipswich grandfather killed in a coal fall, and the lung, ribs, liver, and spleen of another employee, hit by debris.

Father Brad Duxbury was crushed to death by falling coal at Carborough Downs Mine on November 25, 2019.

It was 10 minutes to midnight when the coalface began to crack.

Almost two tonnes of coal would fall on Brad Duxbury, killing him, at the Carborough Downs mine at Coppabella after defective equipment failed to stop falling coal on November 25, 2019.

It is believed 20 tonnes were dislodged in total.

Five years later, Carborough Downs Mine Management has pleaded guilty in the Mackay Industrial Magistrates Court to two counts of failing to discharge health and safety obligations causing bodily harm and death.

Mr Duxbury’s death wasn’t the first safety issue at the Bowen Basin site — just three months earlier, bord and pillar operator Cameron Best was seriously injured by a falling roof linked to a geological fault.

Brad Duxbury was killed at Carborough Downs mine site on November 25, 2019.

Barrister Josh Underwood, representing the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor’s office, said Mr Best was struck on the back by a “large 25kg slab of strata” on September 7, 2019.

The worker was left with a laceration to his liver, spleen, fractures to two vertebrae, rib fractures and a collapsed lung.

Mr Underwood said the prosecution’s case was not that Carborough Downs had “inadequate systems (for safety), rather it’s a failure of implementing those systems”.

He argued that a global fine including both the matters of Best and Duxbury would be in the range of $800,000 to $1 million and said a conviction should be recorded.

Mr Underwood said there was no argument that “the defendant is a good corporate citizen”, but said the defence’s submission that Carborough Downs was of “excellent character and excellent reputation ... may be in the eyes of the beholder”.

Barrister Christopher Murdoch entered the coal company’s guilty plea to two counts of failing to discharge health and safety obligations causing bodily harm and death.

Mr Murdoch also summarised the case’s long history, noting to Acting Magistrate Athol Kennedy that the case arose out of a “brace of appeals” lodged after Mr Kennedy himself had not found the complaints “invoked the jurisdiction”.

The Carborough Downs mine near Moranbah.

“Ultimately the Industrial Court found ... that your Honour had not come to a prudent conclusion, with respect, and that’s why we’re back here today,” he said.

Mr Murdoch said Carborough Downs had no convictions for safety breaches and had rigorous safety procedures in place, contrasting with previous sentences against Anglo Coal where the situation could “truly be described as an accident waiting to happen”.

“There were comprehensive systems in place and there has been training provided in respect of those systems … unfortunately, it seems that human error intervenes,” he said, noting the workers bore no responsibility for safety failures.

Mr Murdoch proposed the two complaints be dealt with separately, with a fine of $300,000 for Duxbury’s death and $130,000 for Best’s injury.

Mr Underwood said in his reply that should the magistrate decide to fine separately, a fine related to Duxbury be $550,000-$600,000 and Best in the range of $250,000-300,000.

Mr Kennedy said he would make his decision in Brisbane but did not give a date.