Mining giant South32 is demanding waste management company Cleanaway pay for damages and cover the costs of a 2018 lawsuit involving a workers’ compensation claim.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald’s report, the lawsuit involved an incident resulting from the rupture of a hose carrying caustic liquid at South32’s Worsley Australia refinery in 2017, injuring a worker and resulting in a two-year workers’ compensation claim that cost the company over $1 million.

South32 launched a new claim, arguing that the bill was not theirs to pay because the injured worker had allegedly been engaged by a subcontractor of Cleanaway’s industrial services arm that entered a deal with the mining giant in 2016 to handle the mechanical descaling at the site. Therefore, Cleanaway must be responsible for taking out workers’ compensation insurance and ensuring its subcontractors do the same.

However, South32 claimed that the waste management company failed to take out workers’ compensation insurance, leaving the mining giant to pay the bill for the compensation, which took 18 months to finalise in Western Australia’s District Court, costing $1,006,962 in compensation and over $47,000 in legal costs.

According to the writ lodged in the Supreme Court, South32 claimed that Cleanaway breached its contract by failing to obtain the insurance needed and is obliged to indemnify the waste management company against the damage and losses it suffered as a result. Cleanaway has not yet provided a statement.

With some organisations and workers finding the NSW workers’ compensation scheme complicated, the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) launched a CTP assist program to help people navigate the claims process and understand their entitlements.