$1.5m penalty for Energy Australia Yallourn over death of Graeme Edwards

Energy Australia has been sentenced over the “preventable death” of an experienced worker at a Latrobe Valley power station.

Graeme Edwards Memorial Park was created at Yallourn after the death of the popular worker at the Latrobe Valley power station. Picture: Google Maps

A major power plant that serves more than two million Victorian homes has been fined $1.5m over the death of a worker.

Energy Australia Yallourn Pty Ltd was on Monday sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The charges stemmed from the November 13, 2018 death of Graeme Edwards, 54, who died as a result of injuries he sustained while working at the Latrobe Valley plant.

Mr Edwards died in hospital with severe burns sustained in an arc flash and explosion that occurred while he was reinstalling a high voltage circuit breaker after a planned major outage.

The court heard the incident likely occurred when a control cable being held by Mr Edwards made contact with live components of the circuit breaker due to an inadequately attached infill panel on the switchboard cabinet.

It found that Mr Edwards, who had more than 30 years’ experience working at the power station, had been carrying out his duties in the way he had been trained.

Energy Australia Yallourn admitted it was reasonably practicable for it to have ensured any infill panels installed on high voltage switchboards were securely affixed and were not able to move or swing.

The company acknowledged it should have also ensured workers, including Mr Edwards, knew that it was safer to attach the control cable to the circuit breaker before racking, in accordance with its written operating procedures.

Energy Australia Yallourn admitted it should also have provided, and required workers to wear, readily available arc-rated personal protective equipment (PPE), which provided thermal protection and was self-extinguishing.

The court was told that at the time of the incident, Mr Edwards was wearing flammable cotton overalls, which can increase the area, depth and severity of burn injuries.

WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Narelle Beer said the devastating loss of Mr Edwards was compounded by the fact that his death was preventable.

“WorkSafe hopes there is a degree of comfort to Mr Edwards’ family, friends and work mates knowing that the many learnings from this tragedy will go a long way to help prevent similar incidents in the future,” Dr Beer said.

“Today’s outcome is a reminder to duty holders of the potential costs of failing to ensure workers are protected from health and safety risks.”

Energy Australia Yallourn was fined $700,000 for failing to provide and maintain plant that was safe and without risks to health, $300,000 for failing to provide information, instruction and training, and $500,000 for failing to provide or maintain safe systems of work.

Following Mr Edwards’ death Energy Australia has improved safety at the Yallourn plant.

“Since the events of November 2018, we have put in place a series of additional safety procedures and improvements at the station to ensure there can be no repeat of this tragic incident,” Energy Australia Operations and Projects Executive Michael Hutchinson said.

“Energy Australia offers its deepest sympathies to Graeme’s family, friends and workmates and we acknowledge the impact that Graeme’s death has had.”

A scholarship in Mr Edwards’ name was introduced by Federation University in 2020.

The $7000 annual scholarship is available for new students studying engineering at the Gippsland campus.

A memorial park has also been established at Yallourn.