❓ Hon Robin Chapple asks the Minister for Mines and Petroleum about complaints regarding safety and worker treatment at Norseman Gold's Harlequin, Bullen, and Okay Mines, including bullying, inadequate safety measures, and unsafe work practices. The Minister refers to a previous question.
AnsweredQoN 2710Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the Norseman Gold company and the Harlequin, Bullen and Okay Mines, and the emails sent to Mr David (Jock) Watson of the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) inspectorate on 27 June 2009 and on 11 August 2009, and ask -
(1) With respect to the emails referred to above, and the verbal complaint made to the DMP inspectorate, is it correct that the complaint that was raised, concerned -
(a) bullying and victimization of the workforce by persons in management, and especially over occupational health and safety issues;
(b) insufficient numbers of safety representatives on the crews in the mines;
(c) safety representatives who did not receive the required training though they had asked specifically for this training for 5 months and in some cases much longer;
(d) a safety representative who was expected to represent two separate crews at one mine, and who was removed by management from that mine and that crew and placed in a position that saw him working a different roster and often in another mine to the crews that he was supposed to represent, and unable to attend a safety meeting for seven weeks to represent any crew;
(e) a safety representative who was discriminated against, disadvantaged, bullied, harassed, demoted and with his job description and roster changed, intimidated and even threatened by management as a safety representative
(f) a safety representative who was discriminated against, disadvantaged, bullied, harassed, intimidated and even threatened with prosecution by company management for raising issues of bullying and victimization of the workforce over occupational health and safety issues at a monthly safety meeting;
(g) a safety committee that was not functioning for the safety and health of the workforce because of interference from management;
(h) management driving a workforce who were inexperienced and undermanned, to achieve production targets at all costs, which resulted in very low morale and very high fatigue;
(i) unsafe explosive vessel practices;
(j) unsafe machinery;
(k) unsafe work practices that were instigated and encouraged by management persons;
(l) bullying ,victimization and physical threats by senior contract operators;
(m) workers often not being allowed to have breaks and working up to one and a half hours overtime regularly, which was in breach of fatigue management let alone unpaid work;
(n) late charging and firing of both single boom and twin boom headings - often an hour outside of firing times and as late as an hour and a half;
(o) midshift firing of production headings consistently;
(p) insufficient ventilation;
(q) insufficient training and assessing;
(r) not enough members on the Emergency Response team, insufficient training of some members of the emergency response team, and members of the emergency response team refused by management to attend training days because there were not enough operators to meet production requirements; and
(s) the safety representative who made the complaint concerning these matters was bullied to the point whereas he had to leave his employment of the Norseman Gold operations under his doctor’s instructions?
(2) If no to (1)(a)-(s), what specifically is correct concerning all of these matters?
(3) In relation to (1), can the Minister state the, -
(a) specific dates that the DMP inspectors attended;
(b) the number of inspectors in attendance for each date; and
(c) amount of time spent on each day doing the investigation?
(4) If no to (3), why not?
(5) In relation to (1)(a)-(s), can the Minister state, -
(a) what specifically was done to investigate each part of the question;
(b) the amount of time spent investigating each part of the question;
(c) the outcome of each investigation and any enforcement action taken by the DMP inspectorate to eradicate these concerns; and
(d) to ensure the occupational health and safety of all employees at these mines?
(6) If no to (5), why not?
(7) In relation to (1), can the Minister state, -
(a) how many breaches of the
Mines Safety and Inspection Act 1994 and Regulations 1995
were identified;
(b) what is the maximum penalty for each breach; and
(c) what action was taken by the DMP inspectorate for each breach?
(8) If no to (7), why not?
(9) In relation to (7), was the resident manager or any other responsible persons at Norseman Gold prosecuted for any of these breaches?
(10) If no to (9), why not?
(11) In relation to (1), will any persons from the DMP inspectorate write to the complainant and advise him of the outcome of the investigations conducted?
(12) If no to (11), why not?
(1) With respect to the emails referred to above, and the verbal complaint made to the DMP inspectorate, is it correct that the complaint that was raised, concerned -
(a) bullying and victimization of the workforce by persons in management, and especially over occupational health and safety issues;
(b) insufficient numbers of safety representatives on the crews in the mines;
(c) safety representatives who did not receive the required training though they had asked specifically for this training for 5 months and in some cases much longer;
(d) a safety representative who was expected to represent two separate crews at one mine, and who was removed by management from that mine and that crew and placed in a position that saw him working a different roster and often in another mine to the crews that he was supposed to represent, and unable to attend a safety meeting for seven weeks to represent any crew;
(e) a safety representative who was discriminated against, disadvantaged, bullied, harassed, demoted and with his job description and roster changed, intimidated and even threatened by management as a safety representative
(f) a safety representative who was discriminated against, disadvantaged, bullied, harassed, intimidated and even threatened with prosecution by company management for raising issues of bullying and victimization of the workforce over occupational health and safety issues at a monthly safety meeting;
(g) a safety committee that was not functioning for the safety and health of the workforce because of interference from management;
(h) management driving a workforce who were inexperienced and undermanned, to achieve production targets at all costs, which resulted in very low morale and very high fatigue;
(i) unsafe explosive vessel practices;
(j) unsafe machinery;
(k) unsafe work practices that were instigated and encouraged by management persons;
(l) bullying ,victimization and physical threats by senior contract operators;
(m) workers often not being allowed to have breaks and working up to one and a half hours overtime regularly, which was in breach of fatigue management let alone unpaid work;
(n) late charging and firing of both single boom and twin boom headings - often an hour outside of firing times and as late as an hour and a half;
(o) midshift firing of production headings consistently;
(p) insufficient ventilation;
(q) insufficient training and assessing;
(r) not enough members on the Emergency Response team, insufficient training of some members of the emergency response team, and members of the emergency response team refused by management to attend training days because there were not enough operators to meet production requirements; and
(s) the safety representative who made the complaint concerning these matters was bullied to the point whereas he had to leave his employment of the Norseman Gold operations under his doctor’s instructions?
(2) If no to (1)(a)-(s), what specifically is correct concerning all of these matters?
(3) In relation to (1), can the Minister state the, -
(a) specific dates that the DMP inspectors attended;
(b) the number of inspectors in attendance for each date; and
(c) amount of time spent on each day doing the investigation?
(4) If no to (3), why not?
(5) In relation to (1)(a)-(s), can the Minister state, -
(a) what specifically was done to investigate each part of the question;
(b) the amount of time spent investigating each part of the question;
(c) the outcome of each investigation and any enforcement action taken by the DMP inspectorate to eradicate these concerns; and
(d) to ensure the occupational health and safety of all employees at these mines?
(6) If no to (5), why not?
(7) In relation to (1), can the Minister state, -
(a) how many breaches of the
Mines Safety and Inspection Act 1994 and Regulations 1995
were identified;
(b) what is the maximum penalty for each breach; and
(c) what action was taken by the DMP inspectorate for each breach?
(8) If no to (7), why not?
(9) In relation to (7), was the resident manager or any other responsible persons at Norseman Gold prosecuted for any of these breaches?
(10) If no to (9), why not?
(11) In relation to (1), will any persons from the DMP inspectorate write to the complainant and advise him of the outcome of the investigations conducted?
(12) If no to (11), why not?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
12 October 2010
Responded by
Minister for Mines and Petroleum
Response time
35 days
Please refer to Parliamentary Question 2516.
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Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
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