WA: Fortescue bid to stop trial dismissed in Supreme Ct

AAP General News (Australia)
04-30-2010
WA: Fortescue bid to stop trial dismissed in Supreme Ct

PERTH, April 30 AAP - A bid by Fortescue Metals Group to avoid trial over the deaths
of two workers in a cyclone in Western Australia's Pilbara region has been thwarted in
the Supreme Court.

Lawyers for the group had asked Justice John McKechnie to halt the trial in the Perth
Magistrates Court and for a higher court to review Magistrate Joe Randazzo's decision
not to drop charges.

The charges of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace at a rail construction
camp in the Pilbara were brought by Worksafe.

In the Supreme Court in Perth on Friday, Justice McKechnie dismissed Fortescue's applications,
meaning the trial will go ahead.

Fortescue had argued the charges should be dismissed as its safety management procedures
came under the Mines Safety and Inspection Act, not the Occupational Health and Safety
Act under which it was charged.

Magistrate Randazzo had ruled the charges needed redrafting but that was not cause
for their dismissal.

Fortescue has distanced itself from decisions made by contractors working at its accommodation
camp in the Pilbara, where two workers died during a cyclone in March 2007.

When category five Cyclone George hit the site linking Port Hedland to Fortescue's
first iron ore mine Cloudbreak, 275km/h winds broke up temporary accommodation buildings
and flattened the area.

Those killed were Perth mother of two Debra Till, 47, a kitchen-hand for property and
maintenance services company Spotless P&F Pty Ltd, and Craig Allan Raabe, 42, of Gympie
in Queensland, an employee of BCG Contracting.

There were also 22 injuries at the camp.

Fortescue and several contractors pleaded not guilty in December 2008 to a range of
charges, including failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace.

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KEYWORD: FORTESCUE

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