On March 25, Alcoa Corporation received an order to pay a fine of $400,000 plus an additional $5,536 from the Rockingham Magistrates Court as a verdict of an incident at its Kwinana refinery in September 2022. The incident involved a caustic chemical spill that resulted in burns to both workers of the refinery and year 12 students who visited the site from Gilmore College.
This spill incident in 2022 was one of 40 similar occurrences at the Kwinana refinery within less than two years. An investigation by WorkSafe WA found the accident occurred due to a miscommunication between two workers. One worker noticed smoke and debris from a pump and opened the discharge valve to prevent pressure buildup. Meanwhile, another worker unknowingly pressed the start button on the pump when the discharge valve was still open, resulting in hot caustic soda solution spraying from the valve and splashing onto the workers and students.
The casualties were taken to the site’s medical centre, and thankfully, no serious injuries were reported.
“Companies must ensure all people at a workplace, including work experience students, are kept safe,” said WorkSafe commissioner Sally North.
She added, “Companies must also have robust controls in place and ensure these controls are monitored so they continue to be effective.”
Alcoa accepted its responsibility for the incident after being found guilty of failing to ensure the health and safety of workers under the Work Health and Safety Act.
Alcoa spokesman said, “The incident occurred during an unplanned pump changeover when an uncontrolled discharge put workers at risk of exposure to an alkaline liquid.”
Earlier, in 2021, Alcoa was charged $210,000 over the 2014 death incident of a contractor who 12 metres through a manhole at the Kwinana refinery. A similar case had happened five years prior to 2014 at Alcoa's Pinjarra refinery, for which the company had to pay $68,000.
However, Alcoa spokesperson noted that, following the 2022 incident at Kwinana, the company launched a dedicated project to curb chemical contact issues at its refineries, and it successfully minimised chemical exposures since then.
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