Fortescue Metals is applying to have charges relating to it workers’ deaths and injuries during Cyclone George dismissed as the miner was charged under the wrong laws.
It is applying to have all the charges dismissed as both the miner and its subsidiary The Pilbara Infrastructure’s (TPI) mines were exempt from the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Instead, Fortescue claims its safety management procedures come under the Mines Safety and Inspection Act of 1994, rather than the previous act under which it was charged.
It would aim to have the case dismissed as the charges failed to identify the measures Fortescue should have taken to effectively avoid risks, according to the West Australian.
Fortescue and its subsidiary TPI have pleaded not guilty to the charges of failing to provide adequate safety measures in the event of a cyclone.
Two people were killed after Cyclone George hit Fortescue’s camp 100 km south of Port Hedland, on 9 March 2007.
Fortescue is the first of several companies to go to court over charges arising from the cyclone.
Editor: Mark Freeman (mark.freeman@industry.nsw.gov.au)
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