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Alcoa has been fined $400,000 over a 2022 incident in which five people were sprayed with hot caustic liquid after a rushed operation at the Kwinana refinery went badly wrong.
One high school student was harmed but eventually recovered.
On Tuesday at Rockingham Court House, Magistrate Mahon said it was extremely fortunate that the harm was much less than it could have been, but the lawyer for Alcoa disputed that point.
Alcoa pleaded guilty to breaching the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 by failing to - as far as reasonably practicable - ensure the health and safety of workers, which placed them at risk of death, injury or harm to their health. The maximum penalty is $1.8 million.
WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said the workers and students were extremely lucky not to have sustained more serious injuries.
North said companies must have robust safety controls in place and monitor them to ensure continued effectiveness.
The incident
On September 16, 2022, Alcoa operators smelt burning and spotted a pump that moves caustic liquor from a tank "smoking and spitting embers."
Magistrate Mahon said there was an increasing risk of detonation with potentially catastrophic consequences.
Two workers rushed to switch to another pump, mainly because they were concerned it may explode, but - according to the prosecution lawyer - also to maintain production. Alcoa denied commercial issues influenced decisions.
Switching between the two pumps was a routine event done on every night shift by a single operator who would first follow a procedure to shut down the operating pump and then follow another procedure to start the standby pump.
This time, two operators were changing over the pumps when one noticed people enter the area and rushed off to warn them to keep their distance.
The remaining operator continued working and switched on the standby pump without knowing that their colleague had not shut all the valves on the burning pump.
Hot caustic liquor spurted out at pressure into an open drain that crossed a thoroughfare and sprayed five people, including two high school students.
Those affected were rushed to nearby safety showers to strip and wash off the liquor and were then treated at the refinery's medical centre.
The students had been receiving work experience at the refinery workshop and were on a guided tour of the refinery.
In recent years, all three of Alcoa's refineries have been plagued by excessive leaks and spills of caustic liquor pumped around them in massive volumes and at high temperatures.
The September 2022 incident contributed to ten injuries from chemicals that year at the Kwinana alumina refinery and 82 such injuries across Alcoa's three refineries over the past three years.
Alcoa reported 574 chemical spills at its refineries in those three years, according to Worksafe data, 42 of which posed a serious risk.
Speaking before today's sentencing, a spokesman for WorkSafe Mines Safety and Dangerous Goods said Alcoa's refineries are subject to an "enhanced program of regulatory oversight."
Its inspectors perform regular planned and unplanned inspections and regularly meet with senior executives to discuss safety performance and regulatory compliance.
"All chemical spills and burns are of concern to the department, and we continue to work with Alcoa towards improving safety performance," he said.
"Alcoa has allocated resources to implement a Chemical Burns Elimination Project across its refineries, resulting in a significant reduction in caustic burn injuries, with work continuing towards further improvements."
The maximum penalty for a category two offence under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 is $1.8 million.
The prosecution argued that Alcoa's penalty should be in the mid-range or higher, while the company said it "was at the lower end of seriousness."
Magistrate Mahon said the handling of caustic was at the heart of Alcoa's operation.
He concluded the incident was "just shy of mid-range" and prescribed a penalty of $400,000, 22 per cent of the maximum. Among the mitigating factors he cited were Alcoa pleading guilty and that it was "a good corporate citizen."
I worked in oil & gas in commercial and engineering roles for 20 years. Since 2016 I have written for The West Australian, The Saturday Paper, RenewEconomy, Michael West, Boiling Cold and WAtoday.
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Peter Milne
Peter Milne
