Nicholas Zikos and Mpriza Group face NT WorkSafe height safety charges

A Territory business has been charged for the second time in a year with alleged height safety breaches. Read who it is.

Katherine Police Station. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

NT WorkSafe has charged a Territory solar installer a second time for continuing to ignore fall from height risks on building sites.

The charges followed a bizarre own-goal by the company, which sent photos to WorkSafe investigators which allegedly, inadvertently confirmed the company was not complying with the rules.

NT WorkSafe has charged solar, electrical and airconditioning services company Mpriza Group Pty Ltd, and its manager Nicholas Zikos, for failing to ensure its workers used fall protection while working at heights.

NT WorkSafe will allege that in May 2024, electrical safety inspectors conducted random safety audits of newly installed solar PV systems at a property in Katherine which identified a series of electrical defects and issues of noncompliance with the solar PV system installed.

WorkSafe electrical inspectors issued a notice of noncompliance to Mpriza Group to fix the issues identified.

WorkSafe said Nicholas Zikos and two workers attended the property to comply with the notice, but in a series of photos sent to NT WorkSafe to prove the defects had been fixed, the company inadvertently sent evidence their workers had been working at height at the property without fall protection.

In a statement, NT WorkSafe said Mpriza Group and Mr Zikos had been charged with two counts each of failing to comply with its health and safety duty.

If found guilty of all charges, Mpriza Group faces a combined maximum penalty of $2m and Mr Zikos will face a combined maximum penalty of $400,000.

The charges are in addition to those laid in December 2023 against Mpriza Group and Mr Zikos.

The most recent matter is listed for mention at Darwin Local Court on Thursday, August 22, during which last December’s charges will also be mentioned.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article included an image of a crane in the Darwin CBD. The NT News wishes to clarify that the crane pictured was in no way associated with the WorkSafe investigation, nor was the business that owns it.