Grace Records Management (Australia) Pty Ltd

Incident description:

On 11 March 2008 a 31 year old worker sustained serious head and chest injuries after falling approximately six metres from the stock picker he was operating.

Grace Records Management (Australia) Pty Ltd owned the stock picker and employed the now deceased person as a stock picker operator.

The defendant held obligations under s.28(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 being a person conducting a business or undertaking.

The defendant allowed the worker to work at height on an order picker without being appropriately licensed or supervised. There were inadequate control measures in place to ensure the worker was not exposed to a risk of a fall from height. While there were safety systems in place, they were too general and the defendant failed to enforce its own policies and procedures.

The investigation findings presented to the court revealed:

• the worker was not licensed or on a logbook to operate the stock picker
• the worker had operated the stock picker for approximately 13 months
• the worker was not wearing a safety harness, even though they were available
• the worker was not directly supervised while operating the stock picker
• there was no direct work instruction requiring workers to wear a safety harness while operating the stock picker.

The worker died in hospital approximately six weeks later. The results from the autopsy were inconclusive in determining whether the fall was the sole cause of death.

Court result:

The defendant pleaded guilty in the Holland Park Industrial Magistrates Court on 19 November 2009 to breaching s.24(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to meet its workplace health and safety obligations and was sentenced with no conviction recorded.

Industrial Magistrate Mr Trevor Arnold fined the defendant $40 000 as well as ordering investigation, professional and court costs totalling $3120.

In reaching a decision the industrial magistrate acknowledged the defendant failed to ensure its systems for working at height were adequate and followed by workers.

In deciding the penalty imposed, Industrial Magistrate Arnold took into account the defendant had not been prosecuted previously for any workplace health and safety breach, cooperated with the investigation and entered a timely plea of guilty. He took into account the defendant had no documented procedures to instruct employees to wear safety harnesses, while noting that there appeared to be some general evidence of tool box talks covering this requirement.

Considerations for prevention:

(Commentary under this heading is not part of the court's decision.)

When working in the warehousing industry where there is exposure to risks from falls, obligation holders should apply a risk management approach to ensure the selection of suitable control measures.

Risk management involves:

• identifying the hazards
• evaluating the consequences and likelihood of harm that may result from the hazard
• deciding on and implementing control measures to prevent or minimise the level of the risk from the hazard
• monitoring the effectiveness of the control measures to ensure they remain working correctly.

When deciding and implementing control measures associated with the risk of operating plant while working at heights, obligation holders should consider whether the operator holds the appropriate licenses, and fall protection, including the use of harnesses where necessary.

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

• Work at heights
• Plant, machinery and equipment
• Plant Code of Practice 2005
• Risk Management Code of Practice 2007
• Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995.