Pratt, Russell Matthew

Incident description:

On 8 August 2006 a worker sustained serious injuries when he was struck by a falling tree during a tree-felling operation.

Russell Matthew Pratt (defendant) employed the injured worker.

The court found 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 investigation findings presented to the court alleged the injured worker was undertaking duties associated with the removal of palm trees at residential premises. The injured worker was standing within the danger zone of the tree-felling operation feeding debris into a chipper when he was struck by a falling tree.

The investigation findings presented to the court revealed the defendant failed to implement an exclusion zone around the tree-felling operation danger area.

Court result:

The defendant pleaded guilty in the Cleveland Industrial Magistrates Court on 24 April 2009 to breaching s.24(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to meet its workplace health and safety obligations.

Industrial Magistrate Bevan Manthey ordered the defendant pay a penalty of $8000.00 as well as investigation, professional and court costs totaling $2039.40.

In deciding the penalty imposed Industrial Magistrate Bevan Manthey 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 when ordering no conviction be recorded.

Considerations for prevention:

When working in the construction industry where there is exposure to risks from falling trees, 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 and monitoring the effectiveness of the control measures to ensure they remain working correctly.

When deciding on and implementing control measures associated with the risk of being struck by a falling tree, obligation holders should consider establishing exclusion zones around the tree felling area to prevent workers from entering areas were they are at risk of being struck by a falling tree.

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

• tree assessment and site planning
• managing risk
• training staff
• health and safety information for construction
• Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995
• Risk Management Code of Practice 2007
• Forest Harvesting Code of Practice 2007.