BHP reaches a settlement with driver of 268-carriage mining locomotive that derailed in 'world's biggest train crash' after he sued for unfair dismissal
- Train driver who was transporting massive load when train took off unattended
- Peter Frick had gotten out of the cab after the train suddenly stopped in 2018
- The train took off while he was outside the cab and had to be derailed to stop
- He was terminated by BHP a month later and filed an unfair dismissal case
A driver fired by BHP after the mining train he was transporting had to be manually derailed, causing the world's biggest train crash, has reached a confidential settlement with his former employer.
The driver, Peter Frick, was transporting the 268-carriage mining train from Newman to Port Hedland, in Western Australia, in November, when it suddenly stopped after an electric braking system cable came loose.
While Mr Frick was outside checking the carriage, the train, which was carrying 20,000 tonnes of iron ore, restarted and travelled 90 kilometres in less than an hour.
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A driver fired by BHP after the mining train he was transporting had to be manually derailed, causing the world's biggest train crash, has reached a confidential settlement with his former employer (pictured)
The driver, Peter Frick, was transporting the 268-carriage mining train from Newman to Port Hedland, in Western Australia, in November, when it suddenly stopped after an electric braking system cable came loose (file photo)
BHP had to manually cause a derailment close to Turner's Siding, 120km south of Port Hedland, to stop the train, ABC News reported.
Experts at the time said the damage from the derailment would have cost the company in excess of $50million.
The incident left the 268-carriage wreckage strewn across more than a kilometer of desert and went down as the largest derailment by scale in Western Australian history.
As a result, Mr Frisk was terminated from his position by BHP before Christmas.
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He then filed an unfair dismissal claim with the Fair Work Commission.
During an investigation, it was revealed Mr Frisk has been asked to leave the cabin to check on the carriage when the train started to move.
The derailment left the 268-carriage wreckage strewn across more than a kilometer of desert and went down as the largest derailment by scale in Western Australian history
Tim Kucera, the driver's lawyer working on behalf of Turner Freeman, said BHP needed to acknowledge their role in the incident, where no one was injured.
'It is a classic case of 'have an accident, blame the worker not the system', he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
'Essentially what we will be saying is that the decision to dismiss was unfair for a raft of reasons not least of which was blaming the worker for the accident when there were significant issues with the systems, [over which he had no control].'
On Monday, Mr Frisk's lawyer and BHP achieved a confidential settlement.
