Timber platform at high risk of failure, engineer tells mine deaths inquest
MINER Michael Welsh’s death more than four years ago has torn his family apart and his widow and adult children say they want justice.
UPDATED: MINER Michael Welsh’s death more than four years ago has torn his family apart and his widow and adult children say they want justice.
Mr Welsh died in a mudslide at Copper Mines of Tasmania’s Mt Lyell mine on January 17, 2014.
“I honestly think my dad’s accident could have been prevented ... I hope the people that stuffed up that day hurt as much as we do,” Mr Welsh’s daughter, Jenna, yesterday told an inquest into her father’s death.
The inquest is also examining the deaths of Craig Gleeson and Alistair Lucas, who died at the mine when a platform collapsed on December 9, 2013.
Mr Welsh’s wife of almost 29 years, Sandra, told the inquest the family had lost a “wonderful, loving and kind” man. “To write down how this has affected all of us I would be writing a novel without an end to it,” Mrs Welsh said.
“This was an accident that never should have happened. It could have been prevented.”
She said “a lot has been kept [quiet] about what really happened” and the accident was the result of “people putting themselves and money in front of a special man’s life”.
“I really hope that this comes out and justice is served,” she said.
After her husband’s death, Mrs Welsh said she had to leave Queenstown, where the family lived.
“I had thoughts of committing suicide and realised if I had not moved out of Queenstown I probably would have,” she said.
Tameka said she could no longer live in Queenstown “facing certain people responsible for my father’s death”.
Mrs Welsh said her family had been close before Mr Welsh died, but his death had led to her and some of the children to move.
Jenna said: “I feel that we just don’t have the bond like we used to.”
Mrs Welsh and other family members have also been diagnosed with depression.
“I hope we get the truth, justice is served. I hope all workplaces realise that returning a man home from his workplace to his family is much more important than anything else,” Mrs Welsh said.
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Copper Mines of Tasmania pleaded guilty in separate criminal proceedings to failing to provide a safe workplace in relation to Mr Lucas and Mr Gleeson’s deaths and was fined $225,000.
Charges against the company in relation to Mr Welsh’s death were dropped in 2016.
Hobart engineer Adam Richards told the inquest the platform that collapsed when Mr Gleeson and Mr Lucas were working from it had a high risk of failing because it was not strong enough.
Mr Richards said the timber used — king billy pine — was not a structural timber and the particular timber used had a defect. He said the way the platform was constructed — “just planks sitting on planks” — was also flawed.
“There’s nothing wrong with timber as long as it’s the right timber to build a platform from,” he said.
The inquest has previously heard Mr Gleeson and Mr Lucas were not wearing safety harnesses while working on the platform in the Mt Lyell mine at Queenstown.
Mr Richards said even without the impact of the equipment hitting the platform, there was a risk it would not support the weight of workers and their tools.
The inquest also heard from Worksafe Tasmania principal mine inspector Andrew Tunstall.
Mr Tunstall, also a former Copper Mines of Tasmania mining manager, went to the mine on the day of the accident and had previously inspected the mine on more than 50 occasions, the inquest heard.
He said no safety concerns about the platform were raised with him during his inspections, and he said he was not aware the platform was being used until the investigation into Mr Gleeson and Mr Lucas’ deaths began.
Mr Tunstall said Copper Mines of Tasmania had installed a new platform, constructed by an engineer and which cost $1787.50.
The inquest, before Coroner Simon Cooper, continues in Hobart.
