A mine operator has been fined $500,000 following an investigation and prosecution by the Resources Regulator relating to the serious injury of a worker at the Perilya Broken Hill Southern Operations Mine in 2012.
Perilya Broken Hill Limited was convicted of a Category 2 offence for failing to comply with a health and safety duty under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
The Resources Regulator’s Chief Compliance Officer Anthony Keon welcomed the judgment in the NSW District Court on Friday afternoon.
“This is another reminder for our industry that failures in work health and safety duties will have serious consequences,” Mr Keon said.
“Mine operators have a duty to ensure the health and safety of workers. Where work health and safety duties are not met, the Resources Regulator will be there to hold offenders to account”.
“The NSW Government and community expect duty holders to comply with their duties at all times”.
The conviction relates to an incident when a then 51-year-old man fell 14 meters from an elevated loader bucket to the base of a vertical mine haulage shaft, resulting in the amputation of his right leg at the hip.
The company was prosecuted under the work health and safety laws introduced by the NSW Government in January 2012.
Proceedings against Perilya Broken Hill Limited’s parent company Perilya Limited were dismissed by the Court.
