On 3 July 2026,the defendant, a coal mine operator, was sentenced in the Mackay Magistrates Court for breaching section 34(e)(i) of the Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999 (Qld) (‘the Act’), having failed to ensure that the risk to coal mine workers while at the mine was at an acceptable level as required by section 41(1)(a) of the Act.

On 27 January 2023, a dozer operator was operating dozer DZ-99 on a coal stockpile at the defendant’s open cut coal mine near Moranbah. He was pushing coal toward a valve beneath the stockpile to feed coal onto a conveyor for train loading. The stockpile was unusually large (about 20 metres high following approximately 17 days without train loadouts and significant rainfall). Critically, the onboard Leica GPS system, which was used to identify the location of coal valves, was not functioning properly. The relevant valve had no physical marker identifying its position on the surface of the stockpile.

After being advised that no coal was flowing through the conveyor, indicating a likely void had formed above the valve, the dozer operator attempted to side cut the crusted coal surface. In doing so, the ground beneath the dozer gave way, causing DZ-99 to fall backwards into a large void, roll onto its roof, and become almost completely engulfed in coal.

An emergency response was immediately initiated. The dozer operator remained trapped upside down inside the buried dozer for approximately eight hours before he and the machine were safely extracted at about 7:30am the following morning. The dozer operator suffered no significant physical injury beyond mild dehydration.

The incident occurred in circumstances where a materially similar event had taken place on the same stockpile only four months earlier, on 27 September 2022. That incident involved another dozer becoming trapped near the same valve after GPS failures and the absence of a physical marker. Recommendations arising from that earlier incident, including installing physical markers and ensuring fully operational GPS systems had not been implemented before the January 2023 engulfment.

At the time of the offence, the risk to coal mine workers at the defendant’s coal mine was not at an acceptable level because:

• Not all valves were physically marked on the stockpile surface;
• Dozers did not have a reliable GPS system showing valve locations and exclusion areas, with a requirement to remove dozers from the stockpile if the system was not functioning; and
• There was no requirement to limit bench height to 10 metres, or another height assessed as safe having regard to the prevailing conditions.

The defendant pleaded guilty. The prosecution submitted that the offending was serious because the defendant failed to implement adequate controls for a known risk, despite a prior similar incident on the same stockpile and above the same valve. The serious potential consequences for the dozer operator and the need for general deterrence and denunciation were highlighted.

The defendant accepted the seriousness of the offence but, in mitigation, relied on its early guilty plea, cooperation, lack of prior convictions, good corporate character and contribution to the community. It was also emphasised that there were the substantial post-incident measures, which cost approximately $2.41million. Those measures included $1.9 million spent for the installation and implementation of a remote dozer system, as well as physical indicators above all stockpile valves, GPS exclusion zones, revised safety audit processes, Safety and Health Management System updates and Mine Vehicle Breathing Apparatus systems in dozers.

In sentencing, Magistrate Dwyer considered the need for general deterrence, particularly in ensuring that coal mine operators respond appropriately to known risks, but accepted that specific deterrence was less of a feature given the defendant’s response after the incident. His Honour placed weight on the fact that the defendant had no prior convictions, supported the local community, and had taken substantial remedial action since the incident.

In particular, his Honour noted the significance of the earlier incident on the same stockpile and the failure to implement controls before the incident involving the dozer operator. However, his Honour also considered that, since the incident, the defendant had spent significant sums on automation and other safety improvements directed at removing workers from the relevant risk.

The defendant was fined $95,000. No conviction was recorded.

OWHSP contact: enquiries@owhsp.qld.gov.au