BRISBANE (CU)_In early May last year, an explosion took place at an Anglo American Grosvenor mine near Moranbah in Queensland. The incident, which occurred at the mine near the tailgate of Longwall 104, seriously injured five workers, with some of them suffering severe burns that required several surgeries. Accordingly, on 11 May 2020, the Queensland Government announced a Board of Inquiry into the incident and its second report was released on Monday (14 June).
The inquiry found that the explosion was a result of “spontaneous combustion”, meaning repeated over-production, along with poor planning, which led to risky gas building up. It further noted that despite its failure to install adequate gas drainage systems for the mine, Anglo American made no adjustments to its weekly or daily production.
The report pointed out that within a couple of weeks, several high potential incidents (HPIs) took place at the Grosvenor Mine, with the first being reported less than 10 days since production began on 9 March. “Producing coal at a rate that consistently exceeds the capacity of the critical control of gas drainage subjects coal mine workers to an unacceptable level of risk,” the report read. “It follows that coal mine workers on LW 104 were repeatedly subject to an unacceptable level of risk.”
The Board also revealed that despite the high risks involved, workers were reluctant to raise their safety concerns owing to fear of jeopardising their jobs. “It has not been possible to assess how widespread that perception might be,” the board said. “However, the existence of a perception, no matter how widespread, creates a risk that safety concerns will not always be raised.”
In its report, the board issued 40 recommendations in order to avoid similar incidents, including law reforms that would compel mine managers to develop necessary controls for gas drainage in order to ensure the risk to workers was at an acceptable level. Moreover, the report called on all coal mines in Queensland to regularly asses production make necessary adjustments, while the Grosvenor mine’s management was requested to audit the mine’s gas drainage.
