Revensworth coal mine near Singleton
will remain closed today as workers receive counselling following the death of
a contractor.
The contracted miner is
believed to have been on a routine break when her 4-wheel drive crossed into
the path of a 250-tonne dump truck on Saturday night, crushing her vehicle.
Construction, Forestry and
Electrical Union spokesman, Peter Jordan, says a lot of employees have been affected
by the incident.
“When there’s a fatality
on a mine site it’s an enormous impact upon fellow workers and in this particular
case you’ve just got to work very closely with all employees to satisfy that
their health and safety as well as their state of mind is right,” said Mr
Jordan, “all employees should be able to go to work return home safely… it’s
unfortunate that this female mine worker hasn’t been able to do that, I think that’s
enough of an alarm bell to the industry to make sure that these incidents don’t
occur again.”
Several agencies, including
the CFEU, will be investigating the incident. Investigations will focus on how
the woman missed several signs on her way to the T-intersection.
Mr Jordan said inadequate
signage may be to blame.
“We’ll be examining what they
mean by ‘give way signs’ as opposed to ‘stop signs’, because we’re told there
way only a give way sign there… there has to be a complete overhaul of an
understanding as to how, why and when light vehicles should interact such heavy
equipment,” he said.
Police and inspectors from
NSW Trade and Investment’s Mine Safety Investigation Unit are also
investigating.