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Prosecution proceedings commence against Appin Colliery

serious injury of a worker at Appin North Mine
Location where the workers foot got entangled

The NSW Resources Regulator (the Regulator) has commenced prosecution proceedings against Endeavour Coal Pty Ltd (ECPL), the operator of Appin Colliery, an underground coal mine in the Illawarra region.

The prosecution relates to an incident where a worker suffered serious injuries to his foot when it became entangled in a scrapper conveyor at the mine on 8 June 2019.

The Regulator alleges that ECPL failed in its duty to ensure the health and safety of workers at the mine by exposing them to the risk of serious injury or death as a result of a body part coming in contact with dangerous moving parts of an energised scraper
conveyor at the mine.

The Regulator has commenced Category 2 – Failure to comply with health and safety duty proceedings under section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 against ECPL.

A category 2 offence committed prior to 01 July 2019 attracts a maximum penalty of $1.5 million for a corporation.

The proceedings are set down for mention in the District Court of NSW on 07 June 2021. As the matter is now before the Courts, no further details will be released.

The Regulator’s investigation report into the incident can be found here.

Read more Mining Safety News

The NSW Resources Regulator has released a report regarding to a worker suffered permanent injuries to his foot after it became entangled in a scrape conveyor at Appin North Mine.

On 8 June 2019 a labour-hire worker was tasked with assisting with the installation of a new scraper conveyor at the underground coal mine known as the Appin North Mine (the mine) which is located approximately 30 kilometres northwest of Wollongong in NSW.

The worker was washing coal fines and muck into a sump located at the lower end of the scraper conveyor while the conveyor was operating. The worker was located on a steel enclosure on top of the scraper conveyor. The steel enclosure was covered with a finer mesh (tech mesh), which was installed as an interim measure to prevent fingers entering the scraper conveyor.

The worker continued to hose down the coal fines while standing on the conveyor and walking on the steel enclosure. Unbeknown to the worker, when he got to the end of the tech mesh there was a gap in the steel enclosure under the mesh. The worker’s foot bent the tech mesh down and his foot and a small section of the mesh became entangled in the scraper conveyor. The worker pulled his foot out of the scraper conveyor, and while doing so, suffered serious and permanent injuries to his toes and foot.

This was only the second time the worker had been in the Appin North scraper conveyor drift.

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