Engineering Testing Services Pty Ltd

Incident description:

On 17 August 2009 a 25 year old male worker—a trainee soil technician—sustained injuries when struck by a grader on a civil construction site.

The court acknowledged Engineering Testing Services Pty Ltd failed in its obligation to ensure the health and safety of its workers.

The court found the defendant held obligations under s.28 of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 being an employer.

The investigation findings presented to the court alleged:

• The grader had an audible alarm and flashing light operating, and the grader was being operated at a reasonable, slow pace.
• The worker had seen the grader at some distance, but continued to work.
• The worker was run over by the grader and sustained crush injuries to his abdomen and pelvic area.
• The defendant had undertaken a risk assessment of the task being undertaken and drawn a job safety analysis.
• The job safety analysis was deficient in that it did not cover the scenario of two testers attending site in the one vehicle, where the vehicle used to reach the site was used as part of the control measures on site with respect to separating workers and moving plant.

Court result:

The defendant pleaded guilty in the Cairns Industrial Magistrates Court on 22 September 2010 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 Joseph Pinder fined the defendant $40 000 and ordered investigation, professional and court costs totalling $2250.

In reaching a decision the industrial magistrate acknowledged the defendant failed to continue with the risk assessment process to identify, implement and monitor the risks identified in the job safety analysis checklist.

In deciding the penalty imposed Industrial Magistrate Pinder took into account the defendant had not been prosecuted previously for any other workplace health and safety breaches, cooperated with the investigation, the degree of remorse shown and entered an early plea of guilty.

Considerations for prevention:

When working in the construction industry where there is exposure to a risk from workers being struck by moving plant, 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 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 moving plant, obligation holders should consider adequate training of staff, adequate supervision of the work being undertaken and traffic management controls on site.

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

• Building and construction
• Health and safety information for construction
• Mobile plant in civil construction – sample site safety checklist
• Managing risk
• Employer training options
• Training staff
• Plant Code of Practice 2005
• Risk Management Code of Practice 2007
• Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995.