Bradley Hardwick: Anglo Coal accused of ‘shifting blame’ in mining death trial

The operator of a Central Queensland coalmine charged over the death Bradley Hardwick has been accused of ‘shifting blame’ to another one of its workers.

Moranbah North mine worker Bradley Hardwick.

The operator of a Central Queensland coalmine allegedly responsible for the death of one of its workers has been accused of ‘shifting blame’ to other people.

Anglo Coal is fighting a charge of failing to discharge its health and safety obligations causing death after the grader it supplied dad-of-two Bradley Hardwick allegedly rolled and crushed him at Moranbah North mine on February 20, 2019.

The fatal collision allegedly occurred after the 47-year-old stopped the grader partway through a tunnel – also called a drift – about 3.31pm.

The 14.84-tonne vehicle allegedly began rolling down the drift minutes later, about 3.35pm, at an incline of 12.5 per cent before colliding with Mr Hardwick and a Driftrunner carrying some 11 workers.

Mr Hardwick was sadly declared dead about 4.20pm. Three other workers were injured.

The Hardwick family: Lisa, Bradley, Cooper and Isabella.

The trial of Anglo Coal commenced last month, with the defence and prosecution’s closing submissions delivered in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday, December 1.

Defence barrister Saul Holt KC summarised his case as exploring two questions: one of liability and one of causation.

He said it would ultimately be for Magistrate Michael Quinn to decide whether the coalmine operator failed to discharge its health and safety obligations and, if he decided it did, whether this failure caused Mr Hardwick’s death.

He argued Anglo Coal had been “demonstrably misled” by the designer of the grader which allegedly killed Mr Hardwick, PPK Mining Equipment, as it did not make known its concerns with the safety of the machine’s park brake.

Anglo American Moranbah North mine. Picture: Tara Miko

But, he said, the operator established and enacted comprehensive, compliant, and “utterly orthodox” systems to test the park brake with the knowledge it did have.

“The OEM (PPK) had sole possession of knowledge regarding the particular design flaws of the grader, and the risks posed by those flaws,” Mr Holt said.

“It had spent years developing a control for the hazard … but failed to tell anyone outside of PPK, the OEM, about that in breach of its obligations under the Act.

“The OEM failed to tell anyone, including Anglo Coal and the chief inspector of coalmines.”

He argued PPK “failed miserably” to comply with its own obligations and advise Anglo Coal of its concerns or provide it with a practical and appropriate way to test the grader’s park brake.

Bradley Hardwick leaves behind his wife Lisa and his young daughter and son.

Mr Holt also stated it was “dramatically more plausible” another vehicle – a loader – caused Mr Hardwick’s death than the grader.

The operator of the loader at the relevant date and time, Mr Hardwick’s colleague and friend Cameron Cuddihy, testified two weeks ago about what he remembered as the last person to see the dad-of-two alive.

He recalled pulling up briefly to speak with Mr Hardwick before driving past him and the grader toward the drift opening, where he glanced back and saw his friend again – still alive.

Mr Holt asked Mr Cuddihy whether it was possible the loader he was operating could have interacted with Mr Hardwick without his knowing, to which he immediately responded: ‘no’.

Prosecutor Joshua Trevino KC said there was no reason the court could not accept Mr Cuddihy’s recollection of what happened.

SAFETY FEARS: Workers protesting outside Anglo American’s Moranbah North Mine.

Mr Holt said he was not accusing Mr Cuddihy of being a “killer”, nor was he asserting any alleged collision was “intentional”.

Mr Trevino said the suggestion Mr Hardwick was killed by his workmate and not by the grader was “fanciful” and not backed by any evidence, particularly as it would have meant – by “extraordinary coincidence” – he was killed by one machine while another descended down the drift.

He summarised the prosecution’s case as being that Anglo Coal provided Mr Hardwick with a machine that had a “defective” park brake in breach of its duty of safety.

Bradley Hardwick.

Mr Trevino said it was this failure that led to Mr Hardwick’s death and three others’ injuries, and any attempts by Anglo Coal to “shift blame” were precluded by facts and inconsistent with the law.

“Anglo Coal was the riskowner for the machine,” he said.

“Anglo Coal can’t deflect responsibility for its own failings.”

Magistrate Michael Quinn said coming to a decision would be an “onerous” task and he was not sure when he would be in a position to deliver it.

The matter was adjourned to a date yet to be fixed, though Mr Quinn indicated a decision was unlikely to come before the end of January next year.