Rockhampton’s Blue Ribbon Stock Feed fined for workplace health and safety breaches

A young Queensland factory worker “could hear cracking” before a rusted roof gave way, sending him plummeting to the concrete below. Now, the life-changing safety fail has landed the stockfeed company in court.

The general manager of Blue Ribbon Stockfeed has been fined for a safety breach.

The boss of a Central Queensland stockfeed company will pay tens of thousands in fines for a major safety fail which left a young worker critically injured and scarred for life.

Austin Quilliam, 24, was working at Blue Ribbon Stockfeed in Park Avenue when the vertical conveyor bucket elevator used in the production process stopped working.

He suffered facial fractures including multiple fractures to his left jaw, chest injuries, a fractured vertebrae, knee cap, femur, wrist and elbow.

Details about the gruesome injuries were read out in Rockhampton Magistrates Court which also heard the soon-to-be-first-time-father underwent multiple surgeries, continued to suffer constant pain and could no longer participate in hobbies he used to enjoy.

He also had post-traumatic stress symptoms, along with insecurities around his physical appearance.

The company and its part owner/general manager Andrew Mark Childes pleaded guilty to one count each of failing to comply with their duty of care under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 to ensure workers’ safety while carrying out work for the business.

The court heard Mr Childes was one of two directors of the company and in charge of the business’s daily operations.

Magistrate Phillipa Beckinsale said maintenance manager Shane Druery, who arrived at work at 7am the day of the accident, established there was something wrong with the machine at the top of the elevator which was above the roof-line and reported it to the production manager who asked him to inspect it.

She said Mr Druery and Mr Quilliam, who was a casual maintenance worker, made their way to the area above the roof via ladders and catwalk platforms on the roof.

Both Mr Childes and the production manager were aware the two workers were up on the roof to repair the elevator and to access the damaged elevator, the pair had to climb over the catwalk platform and onto old roof sheeting, the court heard.

They carried out work for hours while on the catwalk and on the old roof sheeting, moving on and off the old roof sheeting five to 10 times while carrying out repairs.

When Mr Druery told Mr Quilliam to go and do other jobs as he no longer needed assistance, Mr Quilliam took a step onto the roof sheeting.

“He felt his feet move and the roof sheeting gave way underneath him,” Ms Beckinsale said.

“He could hear cracking.

“Before he could step out of the way, he fell through the roof 9.802 metres onto the concrete floor below, hitting his face on an electrical cable tray located beneath the roof as he fell.”

Workers ran to Mr Quilliam and found him conscious and bleeding from his mouth and under his chin.

He also had a leg “twisted unnaturally” and it was clear he had broken bones.

Mr Quilliam was rushed to hospital, placed on a ventilator and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit before being transferred to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.

‘No inspections, heights training’: Safety fails outlined in court

• There was no visual inspection of the roof sheeting or risk assessment following the work on August 4, no signage in place to direct persons not to access the machine at roof level and no instruction had been given to the workers to not access the roof sheeting.
• There was also no documented Safe Work procedure or controls implemented to eliminate the risk of injury to workers from hazards when conducting maintenance activities on the roof.
• Mr Quilliam had, on two prior occasions, carried out repairs work while on the old, corroded roof sheeting without any controls to address the risk of fall from height.
• Mr Quilliam was not given a hard hat, the opportunity to wear a harness or instructions about working from heights.
• When Mr Quilliam started work at the production site three months prior to August 26, 2021, his walk around tour did not include a safety induction but did include thorough information on safety about where to walk and where not to put hands.
• Mr Quilliam did not have a Working at Heights competency and his co-worker who was on the roof with him, Shane Druery, completed one in 2017.

‘Roof was becoming ’progressively worse’: The penalty

The maximum penalty Ms Beckinsale could order the business to pay was $1.5 million and Mr Childes, $30,000.

In her Judgement she noted, “the roof of the mill building within the workplace had very extensively deteriorated and developed holes”.

“The roof had leaked, for a period of around two years, when it rains,“ she said

“It became progressively worse 12 months prior to the incident.”

It was also noted that in August 2021, Blue Ribbon engaged a contractor to remove iron roof sheeting, replace flashings and install new roof sheetings.

Ms Beckinsale said some work was carried out on August 3-4 and was expected to be completed by August 6, but the contractor was called away to an emergency job expected to return on August 27.

She ordered Blue Ribbon to pay a $75,000 fine and Mr Childes, $10,000.

She also ordered they pay the costs of the court proceedings of $101.40 each.

The court heard Mr Childes would be paying both fines and the full costs.

He has six months to pay Blue Ribbon’s fine and his fine was referred to the State Penalties Enforcement Registry.

No convictions were recorded.

Originally published as Rockhampton’s Blue Ribbon Stock Feed fined for workplace health and safety breaches