Asbestos contamination at the site of rail works was downplayed by Rio Tinto subsidiary Hamersley Iron, two rail contractors have alleged in a lawsuit.
Rio Tinto subsidiary Hamersley Iron has been accused of “unconscionable conduct” for allegedly downplaying the extent of asbestos contamination at its rail works site and altering a risk report for its contractor’s staff.
The allegations were contained in a writ lodged in the Supreme Court in recent days, in which Clough and Acciona’s Coleman Rail are suing Hamersley Iron.
The lawsuit centres around alleged breaches of a $139 million contract Hamersley Iron awarded Clough and Coleman Rail (ACJV) for a 99-kilometre rail embankment as part of the then Koodaideri (now Gudai-Darri) iron ore mine project.
In the writ, the joint venture partners claim Hamersley Iron understated the extent of asbestos contamination where work was to be completed, which fell in the Wittenoom Asbestos Management Area.
Clough and Coleman Rail allege representations made indicated the extent of the contaminated land would be far less than it was.
The two parties claim the detection of the substance in high concentrations resulted in $21.3 million in asbestos-related suspension and disruption costs.
Further, they said it resulted in its staff being exposed to “unconscionable” health and safety risks.
Hamersley Iron had engaged OHMS Hygiene, an independent asbestos consultant, to prepare a presentation for Clough and Coleman Rail’s employees on what had been discovered at the site, its action plan and the potential health implications and risks.
In the writ, the joint venture partners allege the communications pack was given to Hamersley Iron’s engineer WorleyParsons and later Rio Tinto.
Details of what happened next won’t be unveiled until the issue of subpoenas and the court discovery process, according to lawyers for Clough and Coleman Rail.
In the writ, Clough and Coleman Rail claim WorleyParsons provided a draft of the communications pack to its staff, but allege it had “materially altered”.
Further, Clough and Coleman Rail claim their repeated requests to sight WorleyParsons’ asbestos testing, soil sampling results and hygienist report were rejected, receiving only a partial response and being accused of “uncooperative and disruptive behaviour”.
Clough and Coleman Rail allege they ceased works at site six completely on November 6, 2020, over persistent concerns about the asbestos being discovered and the threat it posed.
In the writ, Clough and Coleman detail a phone call Acciona’s group manager of health, safety and environment Paul O’Connoll claims to have received from Hamersley Iron’s manager of health, safety and environment David Thornley.
In it, Paul O’Connoll allegedly told Mr Thornley there had been 270 staff working at the site, to which he allegedly replied: “How about you get some people on site to finish off the job?”.
The joint venture partners allege WorleyParsons rejected their claim for compensation associated with the suspension of works, given the engineer had not given a direction to suspend the works.
Now, Clough and Coleman Rail are claiming Hamersley Iron broke the law and breached its contract by failing to provide a baseline survey detailing the geographical extent of the asbestos and allowing staff to continue working where high concentrations were present.
Further, Clough and Coleman Rail claim the failure to minimise or eliminate risks to safety constituted unconscionable conduct and, therefore, it should be compensated.
In a statement, Hamersley Iron confirmed it had received the writ and intended to vigorously defend the allegations.
