Bradley Hardwick: Anglo Coal mining death trial continues in Brisbane court
Colleagues of miner Bradley Hardwick who was allegedly killed by machinery at a Central Queensland mine have testified in the trial for his death.
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A past and current employee at a Central Queensland mine where dad-of-two Bradley Hardwick was allegedly killed by a 14-tonne machine have testified in court on day four of trial.
The operator of the Moranbah North mine, Anglo Coal, is fighting a charge of failing to discharge its health and safety obligations causing death after the grader the dad-of-two was operating on February 20, 2019 allegedly rolled and “interacted” with him.
It is alleged a “defective” park brake on the machine played a crucial role in Mr Hardwick’s tragic death, and in the injuries sustained by three other coalminers.
The fatal collision allegedly occurred after the 47-year-old stopped the grader he was operating partway through a tunnel — also called a ‘drift’ — about 3.31pm and collected water to cool the vehicle’s engine.
Minutes later, about 3.35pm, the 14.84-tonne grader allegedly began rolling backwards down the drift, which had an average incline of 12.5 per cent.
It allegedly travelled a “long and frightening” distance of up to 270m and “interacted” with Mr Hardwick before colliding with a “troop carrier”-type Driftrunner which had about 11 coalmine workers on board.
Two men – a current and past employee at the Moranbah North mine – were examined by the trial’s defence and prosecution in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday, November 17.
Both were asked a series of questions about their knowledge of, and involvement with, the grader at the mine which allegedly “interacted” with Mr Hardwick and the Driftrunner three years ago.
A worker at the mine for 9.5 years told the court that while he was familiar with the brake system on the relevant grader, he only became aware of what applying the park brake really meant after Mr Hardwick’s passing.
It was also not until post-February, 2019, he said, that he learned a modification had been made to the grader years earlier.
He told prosecutor Joshua Trevino KC he did not know who made the modification, if there was any record of it, or when it was made.
The case continues.
DAY THREE OF TRIAL
Several witnesses linked to original equipment manufacturer – or OEM – PPK Mining Equipment testified in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday, November 16 in relation to the grader which allegedly caused Mr Hardwick’s tragic death.
Mechanical tradesman at PPK between 2005 and last year Malcolm Gilbert told the court of works he completed in 2015 to “overhaul” the Moranbah North mine machine.
In accordance with instructions provided to him by PPK, Mr Gilbert said he pulled apart the grader and rebuilt it without a park brake test valve – a component that was previously suggested as a means to safely and independently test the machine’s park brake.
The court heard PPK was commissioned to draw new plans for the relevant grader, which included a park brake test valve, following Mr Hardwick’s tragic death.
Engineering manager at PPK since 2018 Bradley Drury said he was aware that a risk assessment of the machinery had been completed in 2011 and an overhaul in 2015.
He confirmed that a fleet of graders were stood down from operation at the end of 2013 in New South Wales in part due to safety issues with their braking systems, but he was not aware of any “explicit” correspondence, such as a safety bulletin, being communicated to Queensland operators of the machine at the time.
Defence barrister Saul Holt KC asked Mr Drury about statements he made to investigators in relation to the perceived issues and how he believed the “lack of action” by PPK, that preceded his time at the company, was not normal.
“I don’t have records of the correspondence at the time but the fact that it wasn’t communicated wasn’t normal, in my opinion,” Mr Drury said of the grader’s brake testing ‘issues’.
“It needed to be communicated.”
DAY TWO OF TRIAL
The Brisbane Magistrates Court heard from two of the men allegedly injured in the collision on Tuesday, November 15, as well as a first responder and another witness.
Coalmine worker Scott Ryan recalled sitting in the driver’s seat of the Driftrunner, which was stationary, on the day in question as a colleague of his hosed the front of the vehicle with water.
He was watching the temperature gauge when he heard a “big, loud” noise and looked up to see a “whole lot of dust and sparks”.
Mr Ryan recalled yelling to his passengers: “We’re gonna be hit.”
He said a tyre hit the Driftrunner moments before the grader did, driving it back and wedging it against the side of the tunnel.
While the others administered first aid to the men allegedly injured in the collision, Mr Ryan ran up the drift about 100m or 200m to where Mr Hardwick lay in a wheel track with rips in his clothes, his hands clenched, and blood coming from his mouth.
He said he checked to see if he had a pulse or if he was breathing, but he did not and was not. Mr Ryan administered CPR, during which he said he could feel Mr Hardwick’s bones “crunching”.
It is alleged Mr Hardwick sustained fatal injuries — including significant blunt force injuries to the torso, extensive rib fractures, and lacerations to the heart and liver – in the “interaction” with the grader.
He was sadly declared dead about 4.20pm.
A passenger in the Driftrunner, John Jones, told the court he heard a noise “like a freight train” before impact.
He remembered thinking the machine that was coming towards him was going to “wipe the Driftrunner out and kill everybody”.
“As soon as I heard that I thought, ‘I’ve got to get out. I’m going to die here’,” Mr Jones said.
He said the grader hit the Driftrunner as he unfastened his seatbelt to get out, knocking him to the ground. He suffered injuries to his right shoulder and left knee, and a laceration to his head.
DAY ONE OF TRIAL
Prosecutor Joshua Trevino KC put the Work Health and Safety’s case to the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday, November 14 – that Bradley Hardwick’s death was the result of his employer Anglo Coal providing him with an “unsafe” machine to use.
He told the court Mr Hardwick was last seen alive and standing in a manhole by a fellow coalmine worker. He was next seen to be fatally injured and in a different manhole.
Mr Trevino said there was no “direct evidence” to explain how Mr Hardwick moved from the first manhole to the second, though it was allegedly the result of some “interaction” with the grader as it travelled down the drift.
The prosecution argued Mr Hardwick, while employed to operate underground machinery, would not have known the “serious risk” associated with him applying the “defective” park brake – nor was it his responsibility to identify or manage such risk.
It is understood Mr Hardwick tested the brake system on the grader during a pre-start inspection of the vehicle shortly after commencing his shift on the morning he was allegedly killed.
Defence barrister Saul Holt KC raised the two “broad issues” that would need to be addressed by the end of the trial: the first being whether Anglo Coal failed to discharge its health and safety obligations as the coalmine operator, and the second being whether Mr Hardwick’s death was in fact caused by an “interaction” with the grader.
He told the court he would be arguing that his client had operated consistently with its instructions for testing the grader given by the OEM, and actually went further in some respects.
He alleged the OEM had known for years that the type of grader Mr Hardwick was operating on the day in question had a “design problem” which manifested in brake system issues.
“For all money, the OEM (presented) to Anglo and to the world and to the regulator as if it was competent …,” Mr Holt said.
“The OEM behaved in what can only generously be described as gross negligence. This was far more than shambolic, this was in fact, as the evidence will demonstrate, the commission of obvious criminal offences by the OEM.”
Mr Holt said the company that built the grader allegedly connected to Mr Hardwick’s death had actually stood down similar graders in New South Wales – but not in Queensland – after it completed a risk assessment of the product and identified the design fault.
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