On May 28, 2004, contractor Paul Strong was working at the Mount Thorley/Warkworth Mine near Singleton as an employee of Marathon Tyres.
Strong was operating a vehicle loading crane fitted with a tyre handler attachment when the wheel came forward and crushed him against the service vehicle.
The Industrial Relations Commission yesterday fined both companies $135,000, after they pleaded guilty to breaching the Occupational Health and Safety Act by exposing the victim to unsafe working procedures.
The IRC found that while Rio Tinto had assessed and inducted contractors' employees, it had failed to undertake an assessment of Marathon Tyres’ specific work safety procedures.
The IRC was told that both Marathon Tyres and Rio Tinto have since developed and implemented new systems of work in relation to changing tyres whilst using vehicle loading cranes.
