A second employer has been fined over guarding breaches that led to an Irish backpacker being scalped and losing an ear, while a scaffolding company has been fined heavily after an apprentice sustained debilitating electric-shock injuries in a no-go zone.
A manager who authorised machine operators to bypass a light curtain, and a worker who sprayed flames on a colleague for a joke, have been fined under section 28 ("Duties of workers") of the WHS Act.
The Victorian Department of Justice and Regulation has been handed a $300,000 OHS fine for failing to take special steps to protect prison staff in the lead up to a major riot. Another Victorian employer has been fined $60,000 (including costs) after scaffold parts fell from a crane and crashed through the roof of a Porsche dealership.
A coronial inquest has found that WHS offences "may have been committed" in connection with the death of a worker in a 66-metre fall, after rejecting a regulator's finding that such workers weren't required to hold high-risk work licences.
An employer has been ordered to pay nearly $100,000 in WHS fines and costs, after two workers transferring highly volatile chemicals were injured in an explosion. Meanwhile, another employer has been convicted and fined after a lapse in supervision led to a void cover being removed.
A judge has rejected a company owner's claim that had he not been at a funeral, he would have prevented an unqualified employee from working at height, after finding that similar unsafe height work had been performed at the site for 30 years.
An operating plant manager has been fined, in an appeals court, for failing to develop a compliant safety management plan (SMP), despite the court accepting his claim that his employer excluded him from the process.
