Case Law - Health & Safety Handbook (Page 16)

Case Law

Business fined $600,000 for failing to provide a stability book

Thiess Services Pty Ltd, a Melbourne-based construction company, was engaged by Melbourne Water to undertake conservation and maintenance works along the Patterson River. To do the work, Thiess Services built and operated a barge that was designed to carry approximately 5 tonnes.

Failure to consult relevant standards or a competent person

Workers injured after following unsafe work procedures

Dotmar EPP Pty Ltd engineers plastic products using machine tools, such as routers and lathes, to assist with cutting and drilling. Two of Dotmar’s workers were injured when they followed company procedures that sought to override many of the safety procedures required to operate the machinery.

Union requests right of entry injunction

The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) and three of its union organisers commenced proceedings against JKC Australia LNG Pty Ltd (JKC).

Australian Defence Force fined $220,000

On the night of 20 October 2009, a special forces soldier received a fatal gunshot wound to the head, while another was injured during a military training exercise conducted by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) at the Cultana Range Training Area in South Australia.

Coronial inquest into labourer's electrocution

In February 2012, 20-year-old Jason Jon Garrels, employed by Daytona Trading, was electrocuted while holding a temporary construction switchboard, which was being erected to comply with an electrical safety notice.

Company and director fined for illegal dumping of waste

Between 2010 and 2012, Alcobell Pty Ltd regularly transported and deposited about 6,500 tonnes of waste containing asbestos on three rural properties, one of which was owned by the company’s director, Mr Campbell.

Company penalised for environmental offences

Hunter Valley Energy Coal Pty Ltd (HVEC) operates the Mount Arthur coal mine (Mt Arthur Coal Complex), an open-cut coal mine near Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley.

Failure to implement a traffic management plan

Resource Recovery Victoria Pty Ltd diverts recycling material from landfill for businesses in the building, construction, demolition, excavation, bobcat, tipper, bin and skip industries.

Worker suffers arm amputation from unguarded machine

Laurent Boulangerie Pty Ltd (Laurent) is a bakery involved in the manufacture, retail and wholesale of French food products.

$10,000 fine for failing to replace lid on pit

Robert W Gill & Sons Pty Ltd (Robert W Gill) is a Victorian plumbing, heating and air conditioning contractor. In May 2014, a number of Robert W Gill’s plumbers were attending to a water leak at a Melbourne shopping arcade when they forgot to replace the lid on a pit they were working in.

Failure to implement safe management systems

Bulga Underground Operations Pty Ltd (Bulga) is in the coal mining industry. In August 2010, Mr Newstead, a worker, was changing the picks on a shearer’s cutter drum when a slab of coal fell from the exposed roof above the drum and struck him, causing serious injury.

Worker's first day results in injury

Elite Concrete Pumping Pty Ltd (Elite Concrete) is a concrete work contractor. Elite Concrete supplied a 17-year-old worker to the building company Bellard Pty Ltd to work on one of their building sites in South Australia.

Inadequate traffic management plan leads to fatality

City Circle Recycling Pty Ltd (City Circle) is a demolition, excavation and recycling business in Victoria. In December 2012, a City Circle worker was working as a load inspector in a tipping area when he was killed by a front-end loader that reversed over him.

Employer enters into enforceable undertaking after breaching legislation

On 16 November 2012, a Nature’s Gift Australia Pty Ltd worker injured her arm when she bypassed the ‘light curtain’, a presence-sensing safeguarding system, to reach a tray unloader in an attempt to clear a blockage.