“Snowy 2.0 workers told to use broken drill before tunnel incident, court hears”, 27 July 2026

A Snowy 2.0 worker has told the New South Wales Industrial Court of the "shock" he felt when he was struck on the hip by a broken drill during a tunnelling operation.

SafeWork NSW is prosecuting Italian infrastructure firm Webuild, which is accused of failing to comply with its duty to keep workers safe.

On Monday drill operator Trent Wilson told the court he and a colleague were operating a large drill attached to the boring machine "Florence" on 24 October, 2022, when part of the steel rig fell off and hit them…

That part of the drill in question, the guide roller, had stopped working earlier that day, the court heard.

Workers stopped operating that piece of equipment and an "out of order" tag was placed on it.

Mr Wilson told the court that a group, including a mechanical supervisor and superintendent, later "came to the agreement" that the lower ports of the drill could be used.

The prosecution alleges that the broken part of the drill had been placed back into operation without a failure analysis being undertaken.

Not long after that, the broken probe drill made an "uncontrollable movement" and hit the two tunnelling workers, the court was told…