A COMPANY owned by mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals has been fined $50,000 over a 2011 train unloader incident that resulted in a worker losing both legs below the knees.

The Pilbara Infrastructure pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment for a person who was not an employee, and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday.

Geraldton man Bevan Coutts, who was 47 at the time, and three other workers were replacing a gearbox on the indexer of a train unloader, which transfers iron ore from rail carts onto conveyor belts, at Fortescue’s Anderson Point facility near Port Hedland in July 2011 when the accident happened.

They had not been warned that the 14-tonne arm on the indexer sloped downwards when extended and disconnected from the gearbox, and needed to be supported.

The indexer arm sped towards Mr Coutts, pinning him to fixed steelwork.

His left leg was severed and the other was crushed, and had to be amputated at Royal Perth Hospital because it could not be saved.

“Although the indexer had been electrically isolated during the work so it could not actually be started, the risk of uncontrolled movement due to gravity had not been properly considered and guarded against,” WorkSafe WA Commissioner Lex McCulloch said.

“A worker suffered devastating and permanent injuries that were, in the end, totally avoidable.”

Department of Mines and Petroleum state mining engineer Andrew Chaplyn said the accident also traumatised Mr Coutts’ colleagues.

The crew worked for maintenance company Inline Engineering Services Pty Ltd, which had been contracted by the Fortescue subsidiary during a three-day shutdown.

.