Australia is a world leader in WHS. Unfortunately, workers and others continue to be injured at and by work, sometimes fatally.
We need to ensure that WHS is core to how we do business in Australia. Lessons learned from prosecutions can provide insight into future safety improvements.
All information about recent fines and convictions have been sourced from AIHS website.
VIC: companies fined $50,000 following arm injury
Two companies in Victoria have been fined a total of $50,000 after a worker’s arm became caught in a machine at a brick manufacturing site in Thomastown in 2018.
Brick manufacturing company, PGH Bricks & Pavers, was sentenced in the Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court after earlier pleading guilty to a single charge of failing to provide plant that was, so far as reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health.
The company was convicted and fined $40,000.
Bricks Australia Services, which employs staff that worked at the PGH facility, earlier pleaded guilty to a single charge of failing to provide necessary information or instructions to enable its employers to perform their work safely.
It was fined $10,000 without conviction and ordered to pay costs of $3,140.
The court heard a worker was inspecting a possible problem with a head drum that powered a conveyor belt used to transport clay when his right arm became trapped between the belt and the drum.
Another worker heard the man’s cry for help and activated the emergency stop button.
The worker suffered a dislocated elbow, nerve crushing and damage from his bicep to his fingers.
The court heard it was reasonably practicable for PGH to affix guarding to the head drum and for BAS to ensure that workers received necessary information and instruction in relation to the risk posed by the plant.
The risks associated with conveyors were well known and include entanglement and crushing of body parts, said WorkSafe Victoria executive director of health and safety Narelle Beer.
“Tragically, this worker’s life-altering injuries could have been avoided if appropriate safety measures were put in place,” Beer said.
“There is no excuse for duty holders who fail to implement guarding around known danger areas, or who fail to provide their staff with the training they need to perform tasks safely.”
NSW: company fined $150,000 after worker injured in roofing incident
A Sydney-based business has been convicted and fined $150,000 after a worker was seriously injured while helping to replace roofing at a company job site in 2019.
Advanced Roofing Sydney was sentenced in the NSW District Court for failing to ensure as far as reasonably practicable the health and safety of workers.
“This is a case where the court heard a worker fell while helping to replace roof sheeting over the indoor gymnasium at St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill, Sydney,” said the head of SafeWork NSW Natasha Mann.
“On the day the incident occurred there were numerous voids in the roof where roof sheeting had been removed and while they were covered in black plastic there were no secure plywood covers.”
The court heard the 22-year-old worker was helping to carry some roof sheeting when he fell through a void covered in black plastic and fell more than eight meters onto a basketball court below, suffering serious injuries.
Safety measures were adopted at the job site after the incident; the use of individual safety harnesses was enforced for workers on a high roof or within two metres of an exposed area, and secure plywood covers were installed over the numerous voids in the roof.
Advanced Roofing Sydney has a right to appeal the sentence which was handed down on 14 September 2022.
Two businesses fined $1.05 million over workplace fatal electrocution
A construction company and a roofing company in NSW were recently fined $600,000 and $450,000 following a fatal electrocution incident in 2019.
On 11 February 2019, two labourers were removing steel handrails from the roof of a warehouse in Moorebank when a metal handrail contacted high voltage power lines nearby.
The 25-year-old man holding the handrail fell onto his back and his workmate ran to his aid and tried to kick the handrail out of his hands.
The 25-year-old died on the roof and the other worker suffered serious burns to his legs.
Riverwall Constructions was engaged to replace the damaged roof on which the workers were working. Riverwall oversaw the project at the site and subcontracted Perry’s Roofing Pty Ltd to replace the roof.
Riverwall Constructions received a $600,000 fine and on 15 July 2022, Perry’s Roofing received a $450,000 fine. Both were convicted in the District Court for failing to comply with their WHS duty.
Falls from heights are the leading cause of traumatic injuries and fatalities in the NSW construction industry closely followed by contact with electricity, said SafeWork NSW executive director compliance & dispute resolution, Matthew Press.
“Each year SafeWork NSW responds to many incidents where workers come into contact with to overhead power lines or are observed working too close to them,” he said.
“Businesses must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that no person, plant or thing at the workplace comes within an unsafe distance of an overhead power line. To avoid these types of incidents, consult with the electricity supply authority to have the power isolated.
“They can assess the site and advise of appropriate controls that you should adhere to. If you can’t avoid working near overhead power lines, you need to properly assess and control the risks to workers.”
VIC: $100,000 fine after patient’s death
A healthcare provider in Victoria has been convicted and fined $100,000 after the death of a patient at a Bendigo psychiatric unit.
Bendigo Health pleaded guilty in the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court to a single charge of failing to ensure people other than employees were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.
Bendigo Health was also ordered to pay costs of $5,062.
The patient had been involuntarily admitted into the Alexander Bayne Centre in August 2016 after earlier presenting to the Bendigo Health emergency department asking for help and reporting suicidal thoughts.
Later that month, the patient took their own life at the centre.
The court heard it was reasonably practicable for Bendigo Health to have reduced the relevant risk of injury or death.
WorkSafe Victoria director of health and safety Narelle Beer said the patient’s death was a tragic incident that could have been prevented.
“This is an extremely sad incident that should never have happened,” Beer said.
“Every employer has a duty to do everything they can to reduce risks to the health and safety of everyone within a workplace, including those associated with intentional self-harm.”
$50,000 fine issued after worker’s leg severed by auger
The operator of a regional firm in NSW was recently convicted and fined $50,000 after a worker sustained serious injuries in 2020.
Drew McLauchlan operated a business known as Declem Pastoral as part of a family partnership, and he was sentenced in the Downing Centre Local Court, Sydney for a breach of section 19/32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 for failing to ensure as far as reasonably practicable the health and safety of workers
The court heard that a then 22-year-old man in the business’s employ had part of his leg severed by an operating, unguarded piece of inground machinery while he was helping to clear grain from a silo, according to DCS Better Regulation Division Deputy Secretary and NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann.
“In the case before the court, the worker was employed by a family-owned and operated farm with interests in sheep and beef cattle farming, as well as grain,” Mann said.
“On the day of the incident, the farmhand was shovelling and sweeping grain inside a silo. The defendant had removed floor guards from access points to an inground grain auger, which had a motorised, twisting metal segment that was conveying produce from the silo to a waiting truck.”
The court heard part of the worker’s left leg was severed above the knee when he stepped backwards into one of the grain auger’s unguarded access points. The business offered no formal training for workers and had no documented work system at the time of the incident.
During sentencing on 9 August 2022, the court heard that McLauchlan had expressed sincere remorse following the incident.
The business has since developed a safe work procedure for cleaning the silo and operating its grain auger.
“We are asking all New South Wales agribusinesses to be vigilant about their safe work planning, and relentless about ensuring that the management and workforce are properly trained,” Mann said.
Energy company fined after workers exposed to acid
An energy company in Victoria has been convicted and fined $110,000 after two workers were exposed to toxic acid vapour in separate incidents at a Corio oil refinery in November and December 2017.
Viva Energy Refining was sentenced in the Geelong Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to two charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The company was fined $100,000 for failing to provide and maintain a safe system of work requiring employees to wear appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE) when working with equipment containing hydrofluoric acid.
The company was also fined $10,000 for failing to notify WorkSafe after an employee was exposed to immediate risk when acid leaked from a sampling cabinet.
The court heard that workers in the company’s MOGAS Unit used a sampling cabinet to test the hydrofluoric acid, which is used in the manufacture of a component of avgas and petrol.
A WorkSafe investigation found it was reasonably practicable for Viva Energy Refining to require workers to wear a higher class of PPE when working on equipment that contained, or may have contained acid, and fully enclosed PPE with an independent oxygen supply if acid was flowing through lines connected to the sampling cabinet.
Investigators found that the company’s operating procedure had previously required a higher level of PPE for these tasks, but PPE requirements had been reduced by September 2017.
WorkSafe investigators also found that the company failed to notify WorkSafe after a worker was exposed to a cloud of acid vapour while wearing only a helmet, goggles and gloves in November 2017.
In December 2017 a second leak resulted in a worker who was wearing a helmet, goggles and gloves requiring hospital treatment for acid exposure, including a prolonged sore throat and skin sensitivity.
Hydrofluoric acid was highly corrosive with the potential to cause severe bone damage, burns, skin and deep tissue ulceration, heart failure and death, said WorkSafe executive director health and safety Narelle Beer.
“Employers working with hazardous chemicals must do everything practical to ensure that workers’ safety is their highest priority,” Beer said.
“In this case workers were twice exposed to highly toxic clouds of acid vapour without appropriate PPE, with potential to cause serious injury or even death.”
Company fined after debris from a crane fell on worker
A company in Queensland that leased a property to a steel business has been fined $75,000 after a worker was injured when debris from a building bridge crane fell on him.
The business pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court to breaching Queensland’s Work Health and Safety Act 2011(link is external) by failing to ensure the building was without risks to the health and safety of people in the workplace.
The court heard the building leased to the steel processor by the defendant company had three overhead bridge cranes which traversed a runway structure within. At the time of purchasing the building, the defendant conducted several inspections but did not closely examine the bridge cranes or runway structure.
It also failed to engage a mechanical or structural engineer to assess the infrastructure. The lease entered by the steel firm outlined the bridge cranes supplied were the property of the defendant (lessor) and that it would undertake any repairs and replacement of major working components.
Additionally, it was agreed the steel business must enter into a preventative maintenance contract for the regular servicing of the cranes. However, the steel firm did not do so and instead engaged a provider on an “ad hoc” basis to do general maintenance, breakdown, service and repairs. The provider was not engaged to inspect or maintain the crane runway system.
The Workplace Health and Safety Queensland investigation found that on 28 June 2019 a worker was operating a bridge crane moving a large sheet of steel when all three bolts on the support bracket attached to the west wall of the north runway failed and that section fell.
The worker was hit by debris as he attempted to get out of the way and sustained bruising, a deep laceration and fractures.
WHSQ engineers found the absence of a column to support the end of the runway was the main contributing factor to the incident.
Magistrate Gary Finger noted there was potential for a worker to be killed or seriously injured. He considered the risk posed was obvious, and the likelihood of the risk arising was moderate with a lack of safeguards implemented, remarking that the defendant could have minimised the risk by engaging an engineer to inspect the runway and ensuring routine inspections were conducted.
In sentencing, Magistrate Finger took into consideration the defendant’s guilty plea and remorse. He also took into account that the company was a good corporate citizen with no prior convictions under work health and safety legislation.
His Honour noted the considerable assistance the defendant provided to investigators by voluntarily participating in an interview.
The company was fined $75,000 with costs of $600, and no conviction was recorded.
Safety Australia Group