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THE death of a young machinery operator at Karuah’s Hunter Quarries yesterday when his excavator rolled over raised tragic echoes of a similar fatality at the quarry in 2005.
Ryan Messenger, 25, of Raymond Terrace, died when the 45-tonne excavator he was operating rolled down an embankment and landed on its side about 8.30am.
Police said Mr Messenger was believed to have died instantly after being pinned to the ground by his machine.
The victim’s family, including his widow, Alexandra Messenger, were at the accident site for much of the day, and could be seen hugging each other as the grim investigations and retrieval continued. Police formally described the area as a crime scene late yesterday.
Port Stephens duty officer Inspector Guy Flaherty said Mr Messenger was creating a wind break as part of a road into a new section of the quarry.
“It would appear he has for unknown reasons picked up a boulder and has turned it downhill and the weight of that boulder in the bucket has toppled it over,” Inspector Flaherty said.
He said the excavator slid 30metres down the bank.
Hunter Quarries is owned by high-profile businessman Hilton Grugeon, his regular business partner Grahame Chevalley and a third man, Alex Badior.
Mr Grugeon said he and his partners were shocked and deeply saddened by the death of their employee.
In a statement, the company said: ‘‘The Hunter Quarries family is devastated by the death as there is nothing more important than the safety, care and welfare of our employees.
‘‘Hunter Quarries would like to extend their deepest sympathies to the employee’s family, friends and co-workers.’’
Mr Chevalley said work would not resume at the quarry for some days.
Although investigations into the accident will continue today, the Hunter’s peak union body, Newcastle Trades Hall Council, says it has seen enough to know the quarry’s safety record is completely unacceptable.
Trades Hall secretary Daniel Wallace said that grave fears had been held since the 2005 accident that killed truck driver Darren Smith.
‘‘All industrial deaths are preventable,’’ he said.
A spokesperson for the state government said quarries were administered by the same inspectors who handled coalmine safety, meaning that WorkCover was not involved in investigating the fatality.
Eight mine safety inspectors were sent to the quarry yesterday and three trucks from the Rural Fire Service were present throughout the day to help with operations.
Inspector Flaherty said rescuers had been hampered by fears the accident site was unstable.
The excavator was leaking fuel, creating a fire risk, and there were fears the machine could slide further down the bank.
A crane arrived after 3pm and was brought next to the wreckage, giving emergency workers better access to the site.
Inspector Flaherty said it was decided that a second crane was needed, and this was due to arrive today.
The retrieval operation stopped about 5.30pm and officers were remaining on the scene overnight.
Mr Wallace said this latest tragedy naturally revived memories of the 2005 accident.
The Newcastle Herald reported at the time that Mr Smith’s truck slid an estimated 50metres down an embankment at the quarry and came to rest against a retaining wall.
The Industrial Court of NSW heard in 2009 that ‘‘defective brakes and inoperable emergency steering’’ gave rise to an ‘‘obvious’’ safety risk.
When Hunter Quarries was fined more than $200,000 over Mr Smith’s death in 2005, his widow, Joanna Smith, said ‘‘no amount of money’’ could compensate for the tragedy.
Mr Badior and the company were convicted in that case but a spokesman for Hunter Quarries said those convictions were being appealed.
Herald files show the case led Mr Grugeon to spearhead a multimillion-dollar legal challenge that went all the way to the High Court of Australia.
The 2005 case was initially prosecuted under Labor’s ‘‘industrial manslaughter’’ laws but these were called into question by an unrelated 2010 High Court matter known as the Kirk case.
The Labor-era laws were replaced in 2012 by new legislation, and charges against Mr Grugeon and Mr Chevalley were withdrawn in October of that year.
The pair won costs of more than $980,000 in March 2013 but a push by Paterson MP Bob Baldwin and others to have the new laws made retrospective did not succeed.
In a symbol of the few degrees of separation across Hunter society, Mr Messenger’s mother-in-law, Michelle Mexon, handled media for Mr Baldwin and now has a corresponding role with the Liberal state member for Port Stephens, Craig Baumann.
Mr Wallace said it would have been better if the money that Mr Grugeon and others spent fighting the court cases had been put into workplace safety at the quarry.
He said that generally speaking, government workplace safety authorities were ‘‘toothless tigers’’ and he called for heavier fines and penalties for breaches of workplace safety laws.
‘‘In my experience doing workplace safety inspections, the higher the threat of punishment the greater the reaction in getting measures in place to prevent problems,’’ Mr Wallace said.
As well as the 2005 fatality, the Karuah quarry was fined $70,000 in December 2010 after a court found it breached its production limit of 500,000 tonnes a year.
