BHP miner sacked for work fight wins job back

A BHP miner sacked for punching a co-worker twice during a late-night fight has successfully argued self-defence.

The two miners fought while on a haul road at BHPs Caval Ridge mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

A BHP miner sacked for punching a co-worker twice during a late-night fight at work has won reinstatement after the Fair Work Commission ruled he was entitled to defend himself rather than allow a colleague to attack him.

The two men, aged in their 50s, were passengers in a Toyota HiLux being driven on a haul road at the Caval Ridge mine in Queensland’s Bowen Basin by a third man shortly after 10.30pm on a shift last year. The sacked worker was in the front passenger seat and his co-worker was in the rear passenger seat.

The altercation started after the sacked worker said to the co-worker: “I think my dozer is sick of cleaning up after your dozer”.

After arguing and swearing at each other, the co-worker leaned forward and grabbed at the sacked worker from behind, causing minor injuries to his face. As they struggled, he bit the sacked worker’s left thumb.

The driver stopped the car and told them to stop fighting. The sacked worker got out of the car, opened the back door where the co-worker was sitting. The two tussled, and the sacked worker punched the co-worker twice and got hold of his hands, before they eventually stopped, out of breath.

The sacked worker subsequently complained to the police that the co-worker had assaulted him. A day after the fight, the co-worker resigned, writing that he had let himself down through his “totally unbecoming behaviour” and asked that the sacked worker not be dismissed.

When sacking the worker, BHP said his unacceptable behaviour breached its “charter values”.

Commission deputy president Terri Butler found a company manager investigating the incident did not keep an open mind and “had a very rigid and narrow view about whether self-defence could ever be available as a justification in circumstances where a person had hit someone”.

Finding the dismissal harsh, unjust and unreasonable, she said: “it was harsh in light of the circumstances of the altercation and the lack of any adverse disciplinary history”. “It was unjust because (the worker) was entitled to defend himself rather than allow a co-worker to attack him, and his acts were proportionate and reasonable in the circumstances.”

It is understood BHP is considering an appeal.

A BHP Mitsubishi Alliance spokesman said the “health and safety of everyone working on our sites is our first priority”. “We are disappointed with this decision and do not condone violence of any kind,” he said.