QR Network Pty Ltd

Incident description:

On 21 January 2009, a 71 year old member of the public sustained injuries when his mobility scooter fell into an open pit on a station platform.

The court found QR Network Pty Ltd held obligations under s.28(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 being a person conducting a business or undertaking.

The prosecution alleged the defendant failed to ensure the health and safety of other persons. 

Investigation findings presented to the court revealed:

• The defendant was able to, and did, impose requirements on its contractors in relation to their conduct, the systems they were required to have in place and the hazards and risks they were required to manage and address in the course of contracted work.
• The defendant did not specifically require contractors (or their sub-contractors) to manage obvious hazards and risks that accrued from the nature of the work. More importantly it did not require management of obvious risks associated with open pits.
• The defendant did not supervise or monitor compliance of contractors (or their sub-contractors) in respect of hazards and risks they created and should have been managing.

Court result:

The defendant pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Industrial Magistrates Court on 11 June 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 Graham Lee ordered the defendant pay a penalty of $33 300 as well as investigation, professional and court costs totalling $2935.40.

In reaching a decision the Industrial Magistrate acknowledged the defendant failed to ensure the health and safety of workers and other persons.

In deciding the penalty imposed, Industrial Magistrate Lee took into account this company had not been prosecuted previously for any workplace health and safety breach, had entered an early plea and had largely cooperated with the investigating authority.

Considerations for prevention:

Where members of the public are exposed to risks of falling down open and unprotected voids or manholes, 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
• monitoring the effectiveness of the control measures to ensure they remain working correctly.

When deciding on and implementing appropriate control measures associated with the risk of falling down open and unprotected voids, obligation holders should consider erecting suitable barricading/fencing or adopting other measures that would prevent members of the public from falling into open work pits.

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

• Managing risk
• Employer training options
• Training staff
• Risk Management Code of Practice 2007
• Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995.