The whole thing hinges on whether there was a breach of West Australian Dept of Mines & Petroleum mining regulations - because the WADMP is the ultimate safety-governing body for mining in W.A.
The WADMP has indicated it initially appears there was only a minor breach of company safety guidelines - and that WADMP will investigate as to whether there was a chargeable breach of W.A. mining law or regulations.
I would hazard an educated guess that there has been no breach of mining laws or regulations - even if what the guys did, was a somewhat silly juvenile stunt.
Underground mining is a particularly hazardous operation, even in the hard rock they operate in - and I can recall in the bad days, as recently as the late 1970's, we were losing a miner every 1 or 2 months, mostly due to unexpected rockfalls.
With the advent of totally-cage-protected mining machinery and remote controls, the hazards associated with underground mining are nowhere near what they were, in the 1960 and 1970's.
However - the risks of injuries and fatalities are still ever-present underground, and it's not a place to take your eye off the ball, and start indulging in juvenile entertainment stunts.
It sends a message to management that they don't want to hear - that the blokes concerned are more interested in making an entertainment video, than they are in working - and that they're possibly prepared to adopt a cavalier approach to mine safety.
With the company (and WADMP) accent on zero injuries and zero fatalities, driven by workers compensation costs and rottweiler lawyers - to indicate that you have a less-than-serious approach to your job, is not something that is going to go down well with management.
There are places and times to carry out entertainment video stunts - but a dangerous workplace in an underground mine, certainly isn't one of them - and certainly not when you're being paid 6 figure salaries to work hard, produce ore, and obey safety rules.
There has been a upsurge in injuries and fatalities in the last 2 or 3 yrs in the mining industry in W.A., that has led to a drive for safety reform from the WADMP, to ensure that the LTI & fatalities graph starts a downward trend again. These blokes should have been well aware of the re-invigorated drive on mine safety and strict adherence to WADMP and mining company protocols.
It's well known, that there are people in the mining industry here, who have a tendency to indulge in "risk-taking behaviour". This means that there are people who are prepared to take short-cuts on safety, to "get the job done".
It's the WADMP's and the mining companies position, that there is no place for these people in the mining industry - and as soon as they're identified, they are moved on out of the industry - and they find that there's no longer any "job opportunities" for them in mining.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/16302760/miners-fired-as-contract-in-balance/
