A mine manager has claimed there was a reluctance among employees to raise risk ratings at the Mount Lyell mine before a 2014 mud rush that killed a bogger operator.
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A coronial inquest is being held into Michael Welsh’s death and the deaths of of Alistair Lucas and Craig Gleeson, who fell through a wooden platform at the mine six weeks earlier.
Copper Mines Tasmania mine manager, Jared de Ross, said matters from the night before were discussed at a 7.15am meeting, including the hazard report on TD-14.
He said Mr Welsh and his supervisor David Woolley were underground at the site while the meeting was taking place.
Mr de Ross said he ordered Barminco foreman Anthony Clark to do a job safety analysis of TD-14, but this was not completed before the mud rush occurred around 8am.
He said he ordered the analysis as there were disagreements over whether the risk rating in that particular part of the mine should have been elevated on the previous night.
“I wanted to get some consensus over the job and how they were going about it,” Mr de Ross said.
Mr de Ross said there seemed to be a reluctance among workers to escalate risk ratings to a medium level.
“Perhaps because it was thought [it involved] more work – I’m not sure,” he said.
He had made two reports on mud rush incidents in 2013.
One had occurred TD-13 and 14 in March.
Barminco worker Stuart Hills, who was part of the mine’s charge-up crew, gave evidence over conditions in both traverse drives leading up to mud rush which claimed Mr Welsh’s life.
He said he observed TD-13 being unsafe to work in over two night shifts before the incident though nothing seeing out of the ordinary in TD-14.
In that transverse drive, Mr Hills said he did notice the dirt was sticky – a sign that there was excessive water mixed with it.
He said it appeared that the mine’s risk rating system had been neglected over the 12 months before the final mud rush.
The mine has been closed since then.
Meanwhile, a dispute between CMT and coroner Simon Cooper over expert evidence from Workplace Standards investigator John Webber was brought before Justice Stephen Estcourt in the Hobart Supreme Court on Monday.
Mr Cooper has allowed the evidence to be made available to the inquest, but CMT's counsel believed there was too much “opinion” contained therein.
The matter was adjourned until May 23.
The inquest continues on Tuesday.
