Fatality statistics in the Western Australian mining industry capture the number of people killed in the industry in the Australian state of Western Australia. During the period 2000-2012 (inclusive) a total of 52 fatalities occurred. In 2006, the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia commissioned a taxonomic study to analyse the 306 mining fatalities which occurred between 1970 and 2006. The Department of Mines and Petroleum, DMP, the governing authority for the industry in the state, has published statistics for fatalities in mining dating back to 1943 and intends to publish statistics dating back to 1886, though early records are not expected to be exhaustive.
The department lists the fatality statistics categorised by commodity, date, fiscal year, occupation, causes, report status and type of mining (underground or surface). Records up until 1967 are not categorised by commodity and instead appear as "not categorised" in the listing. Categorisation began in 1967 and almost all fatalities are categorised after 1968.
The statistics do not include the 2000 Australia Beechcraft King Air crash, when a flight to the Gwalia Gold Mine, with seven Sons of Gwalia employees onboard failed to land, instead continuing on to Burketown, where it eventually crashed, having run out of fuel. The pilot and the planes seven passengers were all killed.
The most recent fatalities in the Western Australian mining industry are:
20 June 2016: Lee Buzzard, a fitter, died while performing maintenance on a drilling rig at Rio's Channar mine, near Paraburdoo.November 2015: Adam Perttula, a jumbo drilling offsider, collapsed underground in hot conditions at the Paulsens Gold Mine, south of Pannawonica, and died the next day.7 September 2015: Hira Rewita (56) killed when his haul truck rolled over at Cornishman gold mine, Southern Cross.May 2015: Joshua Martin crushed between the chargeup basket and the roof of a cross-cut, at Telfer gold mine.May 2015: Adam Hardaker killed by rockfall from an open stope at Nifty underground copper mine.January 2015: Philip Kitching was fatally crushed during maintenance work on a bulldozer at Woodie Woodie manganese mine.26 May 2014: Lance Farber killed operating a forklift at Mikado Mine, Laverton.15 February 2014: Wayne Fowlie killed by a rock fall in the Harlequin Mine, Norseman.29 December 2013: Allen Zuvella was killed in the heavy vehicle workshop at FMG's Christmas Creek mine. The second fatality at the mine in four months.4 December 2013: Stephen Hampton, a contractor at the Newcrest Mining-owned Telfer Mine was killed while working on the tailings dam.14 August 2013: Kurt Williams, an electrician at FMG's Christmas Creek mine was killed when he sustained fatal crush injuries in the crushing plant.16 August 2011: Brent Glew was killed at Rio Tinto's Brockman 2 mine, being crushed by a hydraulic cylinder of a front-end loader.24 December 2010: Paul Torre, killed while carrying out maintenance on a haul truck, at the Cloud Break mine in the Pilbara, an iron ore mine operated by the Fortescue Metals Group.5 August 2010: Rene Ponce, miner at the Norseman Gold Mine in the Eastern Goldfields fell while removing ladders in an escape rise.11 April 2010: Wayne Lance Ross, an underground loader operator at the Perseverance nickel mine at Leinster, operated by BHP Billiton, drove into an open stope void and fell 25 metres.Multiple fatalities in the Western Australian mining industry are very rare nowadays and none have occurred since June 2000. Here a list of all multiple fatalities in the industry since 1943:
2000, 26 June: Three men died as a result of the failure of a sandfill bulkhead at Bronzewing Gold Mine, located in the northern Goldfields.1997, 1 September: Two men died during a rockfall in a stope at an underground nickel mine.1990, 7 February: Two men, a foreman and the managing director of a contracting company, died when a concrete block fell down the raise in an underground gold mine.1989, 13 June: Six men died when a decline at the underground Emu Mine, now the Agnew Gold Mine, flooded after heavy rain.1985, 11 December: Two men died in the stope of an underground nickel mine due to lack of oxygen.1978, 9 June: Two men died, suffocating, while cleaning a converter vessel in a nickel plant.1977, 14 July: Two men died, being struck by an iron ore train while doing track maintenance.1977, 27 April: Five men died when a kibble fell into the shaft of an underground nickel mine due to a winder malfunction.1975, 28 May: Two men were killed by a rock fall in an underground nickel mine.1974, 13 August: Two men died in a head-on collision of two in an iron ore mine.1960, 12 October: Two men were killed in an explosives accident underground.1960, 24 August: Two men were killed when falling out of a cage.1954, 18 November: Two men were killed in an explosives accident.1953, 5 January: Two men died when they were buried by a ground fall.1952, 19 July: Two men died when they were buried by a slime dump.1951, 30 November: Two men were killed in a gas explosion.1951, 5 October: Two men were killed in an explosives accident.1951, 1 June: Three men were killed when crushed by an out-of-control trailer in an underground mine.1950, 10 March: Two men were struck by a descending counterweight.1950, 13 January: Two men were killed by the air blast of a massive rock fall.1946, 1 March: Three men were killed in an underground rock fall.1946, 23 January: Two men were killed in a blast.1943, 17 July: Three men died of suffocation underground, two of them while attempting to rescue the third.These are the statistics of fatalities by year, type of mining and commodity, subdivided into decades:
Fatalities in the current decade, as of 1 January 2017:
Fatalities in the last decade:
Only the commodities with fatalities during this decade are listed.Fatalities by decade:
‡ Up until the late 1960s, all fatalities are listed under "not categorised" in the DMP database.