Firm failed staff during cyclone: court

A construction company failed to plan effective safety procedures ahead of tropical cyclone George, which slammed into a rail camp, leaving one of its employees with broken ribs and fractured vertabrae, a Perth court has been told.

The company, Laing O'Rourke, is on trial in the Perth Magistrates Court for failing to provide a safe working environment and failing to instruct and train its employees against hazards.

Laing O'Rourke was contracted by Pilbara Infrastructure, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fortescue Metals Group, to build bridges on a railway track.

The charges were brought by safety watchdog Worksafe after cyclone George smashed into the rail camp, 100 km south of Port Hedland in WA's Pilbara, in March 2007.

Two people died and 20 were injured as a result. Craig Allan Raabe, 42, of Gympie in Queensland, an employee of BGC Contracting, died from severe head injuries in the cyclone, along with Perth mother of two Debra Till, a kitchenhand with maintenance services company Spotless P&F Pty Ltd.

Prosecutor Barry King said cyclone George had hit the camp in the early hours of March 9, 2007, dislodging tiedowns on temporary accommodation, known as dongas.

Mr King said some of the dongas had "simply disintegrated" when the category four cyclone hit.

While the risk of cyclones injuring or killing anyone was low, there was potential for severe cyclones in the region, he told the court.

A decision was made not to evacuate the camp, which was managed by two other companies.

Mr King said Laing O'Rourke was not charged with failing to evacuate its staff but failing to provide effective procedures.

"Had proper planning been carried out, a procedure would have been put in place," he said.

"There was no proper evacuation plan ever developed."

Truck driver Kevin Dwyer, from Queensland, who was employed by Laing O'Rourke, said in evidence on Monday he had woken at 1am on March 9, 2007 to "fairly intense" winds.

After dozing off Mr Dwyer said he woke again to more fierce winds and thought it best to seek shelter in the ensuite of the donga.

He said he heard the tiedowns of the donga break before it was thrown into another donga and he passed out.

"I was trapped under another donga.

"I was drowning because the rain was driving that hard."

Mr Dwyer said the wind lifted the donga up and down as the cyclone continued.

"It seemed like 24 hours but I know it wasn't."

Mr Dwyer said he was dragged out of the mud during the eye of the cyclone and evacuated by helicopter later that day, with 10 fractured ribs, two fractured vertabrae and a punctured lung.

Another worker, Andrew Frodsham, told the court he had popped his head out of his donga during the cyclone, hearing screaming and people yelling for help.

Mr Frodsham said he walked out during the eye of the cyclone and saw five dongas had ricocheted into each other.

"Unfortunately Debbie (Till) was in one of those dongas," he said, fighting back tears.

A group of 15 men lifted a donga off the camp manager, Mr Frodsham said.

They also found Mr Raabe in need of medical help, he said.

"Craig was lying there, blood everywhere.

"He had a massive gash in his head."

Witness Christopher Richards, a steel fixer at the camp employed by a company subcontracted by Laing O'Rourke, said he had woken up after being knocked out to find no walls left on his donga.

"It was like it just exploded," he said.

All three witnesses said they were unaware a meeting had been held in a mess on the afternoon of the cyclone.

They said safety inductions had included information on cyclone procedures but were mainly about the cyclone warning system.

Mr Frodsham said it was his understanding the camp would be evacuated during a yellow alert and was surprised when this was not done when the alert level was raised to red.

Laing O'Rourke is one of eight companies charged in connection with the deaths and injuries caused in the camp by the cyclone.

The trial, which is set down for three weeks, continues.