Three of the fatalities this quarter occurred in Western Australia and two in New South Wales.

In Western Australia, Cory Bentley, a 26 year old fitter, died after being struck on the head by the splitter gate in a transfer chute at an iron ore transport/processing facility. In the smelting/refining sector, James Wadley, died from injuries sustained in gas explosion/jet fire in the reactor of an iron ore plant. Seven other employees were injured.

In New South Wales in the underground coal sector a 31-year-old mineworker was fatally injured while erecting roof supports in front of a roadheader machine. The roadheader was driving a cut-through in coal when production stopped to allow mesh and bolts to be installed. The roof bolts were being installed using a hand-held bolter. The workman appears to have been struck by roof strata in front of the last support.

In open-cut coal an operator was fatally injured when changing a tyre on a rear dump truck while using a radio-controlled truck-mounted tyre handler. The operator was using a radio remote control transmitter to control the tyre handler, which was mounted on a service truck used for changing tyres on large earth moving machinery. A replacement tyre was being held in the clamps attached to the tyre handler. The operator became caught between the suspended tyre and the rear of the service truck.

These five fatalities bring the total fatalities for the 2003-04 reporting year to 12 – the same total as for the 2002-03 reporting year.

The indicative total industry Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) for the year is estimated at six which is the same as that reported last quarter and in the corresponding report last year.

For the twelve-month period, the LTIFR for underground metalliferous (5), open-cut coal (4), total coal (9) and smelting/ refining (3) show marginal improvements in comparison with the same reporting period last year (seven, six, ten and four respectively).

A deterioration in LTIFR is indicated for open-cut metalliferous (from three to four) and underground coal (from 16 to 19). Other sectors remain the same: total metalliferous at four and exploration at two.

In the ‘Most severe injury’ category, 31 severe injuries were reported for the fourth quarter, at the lower end of the reported range in recent quarters.

Two losses of body parts were reported, no loss of body function and 29 other severe injuries comprising: 12 fractures/breaks; six crush injuries; seven burns; and four other – oil injection of thumb, chipped bone and eye injury (possible loss).

The Australian industry is working in a voluntary and proactive way to improve safety and health performance by reporting broader outcomes measures and in particular Total Recordable Injuries (TRIs) which include all injuries except first aid cases.

A total of 950 TRIs have been reported this quarter (1169 TRIs - Q3, 1131 - Q2, 1207 - Q1). This equates to an indicative TRIFR of 21, a significant improvement on previous quarters.