Organised through the Queensland Natural Resource and Mines department and held at CQU’s Emerald campus with the full cooperation of Queensland’s coal operators, the mock trial aided industry in identifying the issues involved in an inquest.
“A lot of mine middle management attended and it bought home to them that they could end up being in a process like this. It re-stated what their obligations and responsibilities were under legislation,” inquest organiser and acting deputy Chief Inspector of Mines David Mackie said.
Mackie said more than 140 industry professionals attended the mock trial with a lot of positive feedback.
The hypothetical scenario involved a longwall changeout undertaken by contracting company who supplied the chock mover and the driver under the supervision of the mine. During the changeout the driver ran over another worker which resulted in a fatal accident. The scenario was chosen in light of modern work practices in central Queensland coal mines.
The workshop bought together a magistrate, an experienced senior barrister who has been involved in many mine-related cases, senior company officers, mine inspectors and industry safety and health representatives.
The mock inquest examined the accident in the light of practices and procedures now required by law in the Queensland coal industry and the role various representatives would play during proceedings.
CQU professor Peter Smith, who acted as an expert witness on human fatigue during the mock inquest, said the workshop was a way of presenting and disseminating university research information in a framework that was useful to industry.
“Issues and research into safe design and human fatigue need to be integrated into industry practice. The mock trial helped show there are practical ways of addressing these issues and there are practical outcomes if these issues are not addressed,” Smith said.
“For example, if your fatigue management plan is not properly written and actioned you are potentially open to all sorts of liability. During the mock inquest when the management plan was covered it gave people a chance to reflect back on their plan and think if something is missing in the hypothetical plan, is it missing in mine?”
“Many people in the audience said they had appeared at a magistrates inquest but I have never had any training to do so, no practice or experience,” he said.
After the success of the mock trial another is likely to be held in about a year at Mackay. CQU are looking at holding adjacent workshops to the second mock trial, including what to do when presenting evidence, safe design and human fatigue.
