State-owned Solid Energy has been fined $71,000 in Greymouth District Court for safety failures at the now-mothballed Spring Creek Mine after a coalminer was struck by a lump of falling coal.
Judge Jane Farish today also ordered the company to pay the miner, Paul Anthony Burton, $46,000 reparation for emotional and physical harm.
Solid Energy was found to have failed to take all practicable steps to ensure Mr Burton's safety when he was struck on the neck and shoulders by a lump of stone, the weight of a small car, that dropped from the roof in July 2012.
Mr Burton, who transferred from the United Kingdom in 2009, sustained significant nerve damage, losing 20 per cent the movement in his arm and will be permanently damaged.
Judge Farish said the company had safety protocols in place that could have prevented the accident occurring but did not follow them.
Spring Creek Mine was closed in October 2012.
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union said Mr Burton had to undergo major surgery to repair spinal cord damage, including having two plates inserted into his neck.
He still suffered from some paralysis and was unlikely to ever work as a miner again.
EPMU organiser Garth Elliott said it was appropriate that Solid Energy was fined for its serious safety failings.
"The injuries Paul has suffered as a result of Solid Energy's failures have impacted his earnings for the rest of his working life. These reparations are welcome but they can never compensate Paul for what he has lost," he said.
- By Tui Bromley of the Greymouth Star
