ALCAN pleaded guilty at Darwin Magistrates Court on 20 May 2009 after a man suffered severe burns at its Nhulunbuy mining site in 2007.
Frederick Rowe tripped into an area which was flooded with bauxite and strong feed liquid as a result of a pump leakage. The fluid was about 50C degrees.
Between 20 and 25% of Rowe’s body was burnt and he was unable to work for five months.
The court heard that the company had removed a walkway to the pump when it was fixed. However, the problem has reoccurred and a practice had developed among workers whereby they would carefully walk through the muddy liquid, which was up to 10cm in places.
Alcan’s lawyer claims that since the company had merged with Rio Tinto in 2007, the safety culture had changed. He says workers had been warned a number of times about walking through liquids on the site before Rowe fell.
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