Stefan Bradley
VICTORIAN employers are reminded they face serious legal consequences if they put workers at risk, after WorkSafe completed 153 successful health and safety prosecutions last year.
The total of $16,182,957 in fines imposed by the courts in 2023 for breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Dangerous Goods Act included three separate seven-figure penalties and a further 25 prosecutions attracting fines of at least $100,000.
One of those matters was finalised at Sale Magistrates’ Court, three were finalised at Latrobe Valley County Court, two at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court, plus one was finalised at Bairnsdale Magistrates’ Court.
Offences involving the risk of a fall from height – among the leading causes of workplace fatalities in Victoria – continue to be a key compliance priority, and was the subject of 39 prosecutions and fines of almost $2 million.
There were 25 prosecutions for unsafe machinery, including inadequate guarding, 15 relating to the risk of being crushed by or between objects, and 13 involving powered mobile plant such as forklifts.
Adrenquads Pty Ltd last year plead guilty in the Sale Magistrates Court to a number of offences in breach of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, and was fined $14,500 without a conviction. The fines related to three charges surrounding a non-complied notice and failure to notify VWA (Victorian WorkCover Authority) of a notifiable incident, and plant.
The ‘plant’ offence relates to an employer not providing ‘safe plant’, which refers to worker capacity to operate machinery, equipment, appliance, container, implement and related without risk to their health and safety.
According to WorkSafe, Adrenquads Pty Ltd was operating quad bike tours in Sale.
The quad bike tours were conducted by the sole director’s husband.
He donated his time rather than receive a wage.
On January 2, 2021 the injured person and her partner attended a tour run by the offender.
The director’s husband, the injured person and her partner drove the quad bikes for around 50 minutes to an hour to a paddock with quad bike tracks. The tracks were made of dirt surrounded by grass and were uneven in parts. The injured person and her partner had to navigate embedded stones and rocks as they drove the quad bikes around the track.
The injured person was on her third lap of the quad bike track when she felt the bike suddenly brake, as if the park brake had been engaged. She was ejected from the quad bike and landed on the ground, at which point the quad bike she had been riding landed on top of her, pinning her to the ground.
The injured person was ultimately taken from the quad bike track back to a shed and then transferred to the Alfred Hospital. She suffered pelvic injuries, a fractured vertebrae, and soft tissue, muscle and ligament damage. She underwent surgery on January 5 and again on June 25, 2021.
The accused did not notify WorkSafe of the incident. Rather, the injured person notified WorkSafe on February 24, 2021.
An improvement notice was issued by a WorkSafe inspector on March 2, 2021. Subsequent visits on May 3, 2021 and July 16, 2021 revealed that the improvement notice had not been complied with.
The offender was fined $14,500 without conviction.
The Magistrate noted that the impact on the injured person was significant and ongoing, and risks with quad bikes are well known.
This was just one of 153 successful health and safety prosecutions last year.
More than half of WorkSafe’s health and safety prosecutions last year were against employers in the construction (52) and manufacturing (38) industries; followed by transport, postal and warehousing (11) and wholesale trade (10).
Last month, WorkSafe Executive Director Health and Safety, Narelle Beer said inspectors and investigators would continue to target workplaces where harm was most likely to occur.
“The safest places to work are those where employers accept that injuries and fatalities are preventable and priority is placed on doing what they can to protect their people,” Dr Beer said.
“WorkSafe will use every enforcement tool at its disposal to hold to account employers who put the health and safety of their workers or others at risk.”
Tragically, 17 of WorkSafe’s successful prosecutions and $6.3 million in fines imposed by the courts last year related to a workplace fatality.
Dr Beer said multiple duty holders were also prosecuted for offences involving workplace bullying and sexual harassment, including several matters involving a number of young and vulnerable workers.
“Employers must have systems and processes in place to identify, assess and respond to hazards and associated risks to both the physical and mental health of their workers,” she said.
“This includes ensuring there is adequate training and supervision and that workers are encouraged to speak up or ask questions when they have concerns for their safety.”
In addition to last year’s court outcomes, WorkSafe also accepted seven enforceable undertakings from duty holders committing to spend a combined $1.2 million dollars to improve workplace health and safety knowledge and outcomes in their respective industries.
Another major prosecution of note in 2023 was Manufacturer Dennis Jones Engineering Pty Ltd, who was convicted and fined $2.1 million after an apprentice suffered life-changing head injuries at a Gippsland factory in October 2021.
An appeal has been made.
Energy Australia Yallourn Pty Ltd was convicted and fined $1.5 million following the death of a worker in an arc flash incident at Yallourn Power Station in November 2018.
Summaries of the prosecutions can be found on the WorkSafe prosecutions page on their website.
