Brendan Terence Kelly fined for leaving live switchbox exposed in Coolum Beach State School classroom

A Sunshine Coast electrician has been fined $10,000 after he disobeyed orders while on the job at a local school in a move which could have been deadly for staff and students.

Coolum State School. Photo: Google Maps

A Kuluin electrician has been fined thousands of dollars after he was caught leaving a live switchboard exposed in a classroom in 2021.

Court documents state Brendan Terence Kelly, 30, was contracted to install airconditioning units at Coolum State School in August 2021.

The documents state a site supervisor told Kelly not to do any more work in a classroom, described as “Y Block”, and not to let anyone enter the building.

Kelly told the supervisor testing and commissioning in the classroom still needed to be done, but he was told to work on a different classroom.

The documents state Kelly was then seen later that morning leaving Y Block with a testing device and a lead trailing out of the classroom door.

A QBuild officer and the site manager then discovered Kelly had left a live switchboard unattended with its safety cover removed and electrical terminals exposed. The classroom had open doors also.

Kelly returned between 30 seconds and one minute later, the documents state.

When asked why he had disobeyed instructions, Kelly said “(he) just wanted to get it done”.

Coolum State School. Photo: Google Maps

The documents state contact with one the live switchboard terminals would be expose a person to 240v of electricity and 415v of electricity if they came into contact with two terminals.

This would lead to serious burns or even death, the documents state.

The switches were easily within reach of children and the testing work could have been done without the switchboard being live.

The documents state Kelly had no criminal history and had already taken steps to rehabilitation after facing disciplinary action from the electrical licensing committee.

One character reference for Kelly described him as someone who took safety very seriously and made sure protocols and guidelines were strictly followed, while another called him “a conscientious, intelligent and compassionate individual”.

The second reference also stated Kelly had been struggling with the unexpected loss of a close friend at the time of the incident, which had impacted his mental acuity at the time.

The documents stated Kelly genuinely believed he had reasonably complied with all risk management procedures in his duty and no one was at risk of death or serious injury.

Magistrate Matthew McLaughlin said this was a serious offence, especially because schoolchildren are “naturally inquisitive” and “unpredictable beings” and were exposed to serious danger.

The court was told Kelly voluntarily agreed to do a retaining course and any other courses needed as an expression of genuine remorse.

Kelly pleaded guilty to a sole charge of failing to comply with a category 2 electrical safety duty – expose an individual to a risk of death or serious injury or illness.

He was fined $10,000. A conviction was not recorded.