Allegations against Whittens ‘unclear’ in case of death of Inpex worker Carl Delaney, court hears

THE case against a company charged over the death of Darwin Inpex worker Carl Delaney is so vague as to make it ‘impossible’ to discern the nature of the allegations, a court has heard.

An aerial view of the Inpex site and (inset) victim Carl Delaney.

THE case against a company charged over the death of Darwin Inpex worker Carl Delaney is so vague as to make it “impossible” to discern the nature of the allegations, a court has heard.

Mr Delaney died during the construction of the Inpex LNG plant after he fell from scaffolding and was engulfed by perlite insulation dust in 2017.

Subcontractor Whittens stands charged with failing in its duty of care to Mr Delaney after charges against another company, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, were struck out in the Darwin Local Court in September.

On Friday, Whittens’ lawyer Carmen Currie, told Supreme Court Justice Sonia Brownhill the lower court was mistaken in not similarly dismissing the allegations against the subcontractor.

Ms Currie said the wording of the charge did not make clear whether Whittens was being accused of failing to put in place measures to protect its workers’ health and safety or whether it was alleged those measures were simply ignored by other staff.

Ms Currie said her client “should not be left to guess” how it was prosecutors alleged it had failed Mr Delaney.

Terry and Carl Delaney. Mr Delaney was killed while working on the Inpex project. Picture: Supplied

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“While there are a number of allegations of persons being exposed to risk, none is linked to a specified measure that should have been in place and wasn’t, they are linked instead to individual failures by individual employees,” she said.

“Is it accepted they were implemented but not complied with or is it said that they should have been implemented and weren’t?”

“It’s left to nothing more than guesswork in this complaint and that is not sufficient for a clear and intelligible statement of the case against the accused.”

In making her previous ruling, Local Court judge Tanya Fong Lim found while the details of the initial complaint against Whittens were “clumsily described”, the charge could be amended to “clarify” the original allegation.

“It is also clear from the particulars that it is alleged there were a series of failures by Whittens, through its employees, which created a culture of not complying with safety systems (as articulated in the particulars) which in turn led to the workers – and in particular (Mr) Delaney on 27 November, 2017 – being exposed to the risk of falling into the tank and dying,” she said.

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Justice Brownhill will hand down her decision at a date to be fixed.