Monday 15th March 2021

Alcoa investigates potentially toxic leak at their Wagerup refinery. 

An investigation is underway at Alcoa's Wagerup refinery after an incident occurred last Tuesday, causing seven million litres of potentially toxic material to leak from a tank.

There were no employees in the immediate vicinity at the time, and staff immediately commenced a clean-up of the site.

A spokesperson for the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation said Alcoa reported that the material entered the second and third containment bunds before flowing to the unsealed ground in the processing area.

The report to the department said no material entered the surrounding environment and that it was not expected to enter waterways.

Alcoa stated that all recovered material would be returned for processing or disposed of at a residue storage area.

The full article can be found on the ABC website.

$235,000 in fines issued after quarry worker death. 

A worker suffered fatal injuries in November 2018 when he was pulled into a conveyor's tail pulley. The quarry operator and two employees pleaded guilty and were sentenced for failing to ensure risk to persons from quarrying operations was at an acceptable level.

The worker was exposed to the hazard due to the physical barrier between moving machinery and workers being removed.

Charges were laid against the quarry operator, its site senior executive and a supervisor following an investigation. The quarry operator was fined $180,000, while the site senior executive and supervisor were fined $45,000 and $10,000, respectively.

Chief Inspector of Mines Herman Fasching said, 'The tragic loss of a young worker's life is a stark reminder to industries of the need to maintain a chronic sense of unease about the safety of their workplaces and practices.'

The original article can be found on the NSCA Foundation website.