John Sylvester Robert Cotterill

Incident description:

On 6-8 August 2007, a trainee's supervisor signed an entry in a trainee's training record without being satisfied that the entry was correct.

The court acknowledged the defendant was a stores and warehouse manager for the Southern Regional Water Pipeline Alliance at the date of the offence 6-8 August 2007 and found the defendant held obligations under s.25 of the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 1997 (the Regulation), being a supervisor of a trainee.

Investigation findings presented to the court alleged a complaint had been made that improper training and assessment were being conducted for the pipeline alliance workers seeking prescribed occupation licences issued under the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 1997. One allegation made was that certain workers were directed to falsify entries in training records for operation of a vehicle loading crane and have the defendant sign those entries in the capacity of a supervisor .

Court result:

The investigation findings presented to the court revealed:

• time and wages records indicated the defendant signed training record entries for trainees prior to commencing work with the southern regional water pipeline alliance and on days when he had not worked, and
• an interview was conducted with the defendant, in which he made admissions that he failed to supervise the training of two workers and entries he signed in their training records were false.

The defendant pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Industrial Magistrates Court on 1 October 2009 to breaching s.24(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to meet his workplace health and safety obligations and was sentenced with no conviction recorded.

Industrial Magistrate Ms Christine Roney ordered the defendant pay a penalty of $750.

In reaching a decision the court acknowledged the defendant failed to consider the gravity of his actions which comprised a serious breach of the Regulation.

In deciding the penalty Ms Roney took into account the defendant had not been prosecuted previously for any other workplace health and safety breaches, co-operated with the investigation and entered an early plea of guilty.

Considerations for prevention:

When working in any industries where there is exposure to risks from improper training and assessment of occupational licenses, obligation holders should apply a risk management approach to ensure the selection of suitable control measures.

Risk management involves evaluating the consequences and likelihood of harm that may result from the hazard, deciding upon and implementing control measures to prevent or minimise the level of the risk from the hazard and monitoring the effectiveness of the control measures to ensure they remain working correctly.

When deciding upon and implementing appropriate control measures associated with the training and assessment of workers, obligation holders should ensure that such tasks are undertaken by suitably qualified and experienced workers with appropriate control measure implemented to ensure records are checked on a regular basis.

Visit the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland website for more information on:

• training staff and using control measures to manage risks associated with workplace hazards
• licensing and registration information
• crane and hoist licensing requirements
• Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 2008
• Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995
• What penalties apply under the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995.