The accident took place in the block named Longwall 13 and towards the end of Beltana’s life, with the operation since mining longwall panels at the nearby Blakefield South extension.
The victim, shearer operator Scott Newstead, was replacing worn picks on the maingate cutter drum when it was partially under exposed roof.
The falling slab of coal hit him in the lower back. While there were various circumstances to this case, the court found that the picks of the MG drum should have been replaced under the supported roof of the MG road during the previous shift.
Related to this, it questioned the mine’s practice of changing picks of both the MG and tailgate drums at the same time.
It also found that the installation of secondary roof support (roof bolts) to help cover Newstead in those circumstances would have been a “simple step to have undertaken”.
The criminal charges related to duty of care provisions to ensuring the health, safety and welfare of employees.
An interesting aspect to the case was that the mine’s operations manager, Mark Munro, terminated Newstead’s contract following the accident for entering “unsupported roof”.
“Newstead did not respond to that,” the court judgement document said.
“He was not asked about this in evidence. It can be said he did not deny it. It can also be said he did not affirm it. It remains a piece of evidence without explanation. I have to give it its due weight. In doing so, it does not impress me as evidence that detracts from the matters I have set out.”
