Fines, death: Regional Qld companies breach work health, safety laws
From farm workers to millers, installers and tradesmen, serious health and safety breaches by these Wide Bay businesses resulted in horrific and, in some cases, life-ending injuries.
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More than 60 per cent of the Wide Bay Burnett’s population heads off to work every day, but sadly not all of the 120,000-odd workers make it home safely.
Horrific injuries including spinal damage and amputated arms and legs are among the major incidents caused by companies failing in their duty of care.
In some cases the outcome was the tragic loss of life.
Several serious injuries were caused by similar failures, including forklifts and heights.
These were the workplace breaches prosecuted in Wide Bay Burnett courts over the past two years.
Convictions recorded
Macadamia farm exposes worker to risk of injury or death
A leading macadamia business with plantations across the world was hit with a $410,000 fine after farm workers suffered horrific injuries to their arms from heavy machinery, including one amputation.
Saratoga Holdings Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court in December 2021 to three breaches of its health and safety duties, and failing to ensure the regulator was notified of a notifiable incident.
The most serious incident occurred at Gordon’s Farm, Alloway on August 27, 2018.
Ivan Rollings was operating a tractor with large metal blades on the skirter when it collided with an ATV being operated by British backpacker Liam Downer.
Mr Downer’s arm was amputated in the crash.
The court heard Workplace Health and Safety investigated the incident and concluded Saratoga Holdings failed to adequately manage the risks arising from the use of the skirter, or to communicate that risk to workers and as a result, exposed their worker to risk of serious death or injury.
Saratoga Holdings was fined $410,000 for all four offences.
More details here
No convictions recorded
Sawmill fined after worker lost finger
A Maryborough sawmill was hit with a five-figure fine after a worker lost a finger while cleaning a multisaw.
Wades Softwoods director Robin Wade pleaded guilty on behalf of the business in May 2023 at Maryborough Magistrates Court to one count of failing to comply with health and safety duty, with the failure exposing an individual to the risk of serious injury.
The incident happened on July 27, 2021, when Anthony Wilson was working with another staff member to clean the multisaw.
The court heard Wades Softwoods had failed to ensure appropriate controls were in place to address the risk of employees contacting moving parts of the saw, which needed cleaning three times a day.
Mr Wilson’s left index finger was crushed between a nut and the machine when the other worker elevated it before he was ready.
It was then amputated when he tried to pull it out, the court heard.
Wades Softwoods was fined $50,000 and ordered to pay costs of $1601.40.
No conviction was recorded.
More details here
Solar company charged after worker fell
A solar installation company was slugged with a $40,000 fine after a worker fell several metres onto a concrete floor, injuring his spine.
Cmp & Dcm Pty Ltd, trading as Solahart Hervey Bay, pleaded guilty in March 2023 at Hervey Bay Magistrates Court to a failing to comply with health and safety duty – category 2 charge.
Court documents show the incident happened on September 16, 2020, when the worker was installing a solar hot water system at a two-storey Urangan home.
The worker was up an extension ladder when he felt it begin to shift away from the wall.
He tried to grab a drain pipe to stop his fall but it gave out under his weight.
The documents show he suffered significant injuries to his lower spine, including a compression fracture to his L1 vertebra.
The company had only considered the use of ladders for access, the documents said.
It did not account for working from ladders or how ladders were to be tied off, or provide any additional safety features for working from heights.
Solahart was fined $40,000 and no conviction was recorded.
More details here
House relocators fined after worker fell from roof
A Bundaberg business and its director were each fined five figure sums for a safety breach which left a worker with a serious back injury.
Charelle Industries Pty Ltd director Ebony Anne Keech pleaded guilty at Bundaberg Magistrates Court in June 2022 to two counts of failing to comply with health and safety duty.
The court was told a 17-year-old boy fell off the roof of a Wallaville home on January 7, 2021, and injured his back while he was working for the company, which was trading as Bundaberg House Relocators.
He was hospitalised for the back injury he suffered as a result of the fall.
Charelle Industries was fined $45,000 and Keech was fined $15,000, with no convictions recorded.
More details here
Swickers exposed workers to risk of death or serious injury
Kingaroy’s bacon behemoth Swickers was fined $25,000 after several workers were exposed to life threatening risks from an acid cleaner.
Swickers Kingaroy Bacon Factory Pty Ltd pleaded guilty at Kingaroy Magistrates Court in March 2023 to failing to comply with its primary health and safety duty, exposing an individual to a risk of death or serious injury on January 27.
The company also breached the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.
The court heard Swickers approved the use of acid cleaner Protexit, between March and June 2021, for employees to use in the descaling of a scalding cabin.
It heard workers were given personal protection equipment and told not to kneel, but employees still suffered burns from the chemical.
These injuries could have been prevented by Swickers providing employees with the correct chemical-resistant pants, the court heard.
Swickers was fined $25,000, and no convictions were recorded.
More details here
Timber business fined after forklift backed over worker
A Gympie business was fined for breaching its duty of care to a worker who was reversed over by a forklift, fracturing both of his legs.
Wood Industries Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to the offence, which happened at its Glanmire site on March 8, 2019.
The employee was working at the location when he was backed over by another worker using the forklift.
An investigation following the injury revealed the forklift’s reversing indicator and warning light were only working intermittently, Gympie Magistrates Court heard.
The company had failed to provide any clearly outlined areas for pedestrians to safely walk on the site, and while safety procedures had been created in 2010, neither the forklift driver nor the injured employee could recall ever having seen them.
It was fined $35,000 and ordered to pay $1600 in costs, with no conviction recorded.
More details here
Failure to raise bed rail for disabled man cost $25,000
A Bundaberg footballer and coach caring for a non-verbal and disabled 25-year-old man was fined $15,000 for failing to raise a bed rail which resulted in the man suffering multiple fractures in a fall.
Mitchell John Hazzard pleaded guilty at Bundaberg Magistrates Court in September 2o21 to the workplace safety breach, which happened in October 2018.
He was caring for the man when he realised the failure to raise the rail had led to the fall, the court heard.
Instead of reporting it though he simply put the man back to bed, leaving him to suffer for 10 hours with four untreated fractures, two to his pelvis and two in his legs.
For the workplace safety breach, Hazzard was ordered to pay a fine of $15,000 and $1104.10 in costs.
No conviction was recorded.
More details here
Roofing company fined $50,000 over horror fall
A worker’s near-fatal fall through a skylight at a South Burnett worksite ended with a $50,000 fine for a Gold-Coast based construction company after he suffered a severe brain injury.
Soko Construction and Roofing Pty Ltd faced Southport Magistrates Court over the December 2019 workplace incident which occurred when it was contracted to replace the roofs on two sheds, including four skylights, at a Bunya Hwy property at Kumbia.
One of the employees was on the workshop roof when he accidentally stepped onto a polycarbonate skylight sheet and fell 4.8m onto the concrete floor.
He suffered a fractured skull and traumatic brain injury, and was flown in a critical condition to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
The company was charged under the Workplace Health and Safety Act 2011 with failing to implement appropriate control measures to eliminate or minimise the risk of a worker falling through the roof.
The company pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a health and safety duty - category two offence.
The company was fined $50,000 and ordered to pay court and professional costs of almost $1600.
Magistrate Kerry Magee also imposed a $25,000 surety attached to a two-year court-ordered WHS undertaking.
No convictions were recorded.
More details here
Concreter’s mentor dies in driveway tragedy
Failing to pay $700 to fix a bobcat resulted in the death of a Gympie concreter’s mentor in an horrific driveway incident.
Mark Nelson Bishop, 51, pleaded guilty in Gympie Magistrates Court on September 8, 2023, to breaching the Workplace Health and Safety Act and following the death of beloved husband, father and builder Phil McGowan.
Bishop, the owner of a concreting business, had been working at Mr McGowan’s Chatsworth home on the afternoon of June 13, 2022.
The court was told Bishop had reversed the machine down a driveway and over Mr McGowan after stopping to speak with him.
Investigations found the bobcat had no reversing alarm, one of the rear work lights was not working, and there was no flashing light on its roof.
No measures taken to address risks at the worksite and no exclusion zones had been established.
Bishop was fine $80,000 and ordered he pay the prosecution’s costs of $1601.46.
No convictions were recorded.
More details here
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