WorkSafe Victoria | A property renovation and maintenance company has been fined $100,000 after a contractor’s fall at a Campbellfield factory left him with catastrophic injuries.

Konstrukteur Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to two charges of failing to ensure people other than employees were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.

The company was fined with conviction and also ordered to pay costs of $5,373.

In April 2023, a 35-year-old labourer and the site supervisor were tasked with installing new corrugated iron sheets as part of roof rectification works at the factory.

The pair, neither of whom were wearing a harness, used an elevated work platform to access the rooftop and began removing the old sheets one by one, each time exposing an open void, which was then covered by a replacement sheet.

After one of the sheets was removed, the supervisor turned his back and did not see the labourer fall 5.5 metres through the void to the concrete floor below.

The labourer was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and placed on life-support before undergoing multiple surgeries. He now requires 24/7 care because of the injuries.

A WorkSafe investigation found that Konstrukteur prepared a safe work method statement (SWMS), but it was not signed off or made available to workers and was not specific to the site.

The court heard none of the workers on site had been provided with training for safe working at height, despite the falls risks associated with the works being undertaken.

The company admitted it was reasonably practicable to have reduced the risk of falls by ensuring the work was performed in line with a prepared SWMS and by ensuring workers used a fall arrest system, such as safety harnesses.

Government of Western Australia | A construction company has been fined $350,000 (and ordered to pay more than $6,600 in costs) over the death of a 19-year-old worker in 2021.

M Construction (WA) Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court.

In November 2021, an employee of PAWS Construction and Maintenance Pty Ltd died after suffering a traumatic head injury when he was struck by a sea container drawbridge ramp weighing around 250kg. At the time he was assisting his supervisor to lower the ramp.

M Construction had engaged PAWS Construction to complete the works, including the lowering of the sea container ramp. PAWS Construction was also prosecuted over the incident and was fined $250,000 in August 2025.

The ramp to be lowered was held in place by two pins. The first pin was removed, and before removing the second pin, the supervisor instructed the worker to stand to the left of the ramp out of the drop zone.

When the second pin was removed the ramp fell quickly to the ground, striking the worker who suffered fatal injuries.

The workers had not been provided with a safe work procedure or instructions for the raising or lowering of the ramp.

A winch was installed to assist with the raising and lowering of the ramp, but it was not maintained and was not operational at the time of the incident.

SafeWork NSW | The Danebritt Group Pty Ltd has been convicted and fined $90,000 in the Industrial Court of NSW as a result of a prosecution by SafeWork NSW.

The proceedings arose from an incident on 24 November 2022, when two workers were placed at risk while stocking a newly installed sunglasses display cabinet that was only partially affixed to a wall.

The Danebritt Group Pty Ltd plead guilty to an offence pursuant to section 33 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) for failing to comply with its health and safety duty to persons other than workers under section 19(2) of the Act.

The Danebritt Group Pty Ltd has the right to appeal against its sentence.

WorkSafe Victoria | WorkSafe has charged a worker with allegedly obtaining more than half a million dollars in fraudulent workers compensation payments.

The 54-year-old Ararat woman faces a total of 20 charges, including eight charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception under section 82(1) of the Crimes Act and four charges under section 585(1) of the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act for providing false or misleading information.

WorkSafe alleges that between December 2019 and December 2024, the worker received WorkCover payments into their bank and superannuation accounts totalling $527,197 after failing to declare that they were working during this period.

The worker faces an additional eight charges for providing false or misleading declarations in breach of section 585(3)(d) of the WIRC Act.

It’s alleged that between December 2022 and October 2024 the worker submitted certificates of capacity that falsely declared that she had not worked.

Government of Western Australia | A Welshpool drill services company has been fined $897,500 (and ordered to pay almost $6,500 in costs) over the death of a worker in 2023.

Airdrill Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and was fined in Perth Magistrates Court.

The company provides services relating to drill rigs, including design, manufacture, and commissioning of new rigs and the maintenance, servicing and refurbishment of existing drill rigs.

The use of overhead cranes is a common part of the Airdrill operation, but the company did not have any documented risk assessment or safe systems of work for the use of overhead cranes at the workplace. There was no procedure in place to ensure that complicated lifts were properly planned and supervised.

In February 2023, an Airdrill employee suffered fatal crush injuries when he attempted to move a skid mounted mud pump (skid assembly) on a trailer that had been placed on trestles.

The weight of the skid assembly and its centre of gravity were not known or assessed at any time prior to the incident and the skid assembly was placed on the trestles in an improvised configuration that meant it was inherently unstable and prone to tipping.

The worker was assigned to work on the skid assembly after it had been lifted onto the trestles. At the time the incident occurred he was standing on the skid assembly and operating the overhead crane using a handheld crane control pendant when the trailer unexpectedly tipped sideways, trapping him between the chain from the overhead crane and a handrail on the skid assembly.

The worker was a licensed dogger and would have had some knowledge of how to connect loads to cranes, however Airdrill did not provide verification of competency or training and did not require the worker to complete a risk assessment and lift plan before doing the job.

SafeWork NSW | JBS Australia Pty Ltd has been convicted and fined $330,000 in the District Court of NSW as a result of a prosecution by SafeWork NSW.

The proceedings arose following a workplace incident on 14 July 2022, when a worker was injured after being struck by a forklift in a chilled storage area for processed meat.

The worker suffered severe injuries to his left leg as a result of the collision.

JBS Australia plead guilty to an offence pursuant to section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) for failing to comply with its health and safety duty to workers under section 19(1) of the Act.

JBS Australia Pty Ltd has the right to appeal against its sentence.

Government of Western Australia | A spray painting and sandblasting company has been dealt the biggest ever fine under Western Australia’s workplace safety and health laws over the death of a 16-year-old worker in 2023.

RPC Surface Treatment Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker and was issued a global fine in the Perth Magistrates Court.

In June 2023, a labourer who assisted with spray painting and sandblasting was killed when a steel beam weighing approximately 425kg suspended from an overhead monorail system fell on his chest.

The steel beam was attached to the monorail at each end by S-hooks (fabricated steel hooks in an s-shape) connected to chain slings. The beam had been primed and coated and was left suspended to dry in the main spray booth.

Early on the morning of 15 June 2023, the labourer and three other workers were instructed to move the beams to another area where they were to be collected later in the day.

When the labourer was pushing the beam by hand, the S-hooks deformed and straightened out under the load and the beam fell onto him, causing fatal injuries.

The workers at RPC routinely selected lifting devices by a process of trial and error, and they were not required to determine the weight of the load prior to suspending it.

The weight was estimated via a visual inspection and whether it had been unloaded by hand or with a forklift, and the S-hooks did not have a known working load limit or rated capacity.

In March 2021, WorkSafe inspectors had issued a Prohibition Notice to RPC prohibiting the activity of working underneath suspended loads.

While this notice did not relate to the monorail or S-hooks directly, it did direct RPC to the same risk, namely being crushed by falling objects while working under suspended loads.

SafeWork SA | South Australia’s Department for Education has been fined $225,000 after a student was seriously injured in a fall from a broken swing in a school playground.

The Department for Education pleaded guilty and was sentenced in the South Australian Employment Court after a SafeWork SA prosecution.

The incident occurred on 25 August 2021, when a 16-year-old student was using a playground swing at Port Augusta Special School.

One of the swing’s severely worn supporting bolts broke, throwing the student to the ground, resulting in significant head injuries.

The SafeWork SA investigation found that the swing failed because one of the two shackle bolts that supported the swing’s chains had worn down over years of use so that only 5% of its cross-section remained.

Testing confirmed there was no manufacturing defect in the worn shackle.

The court found that damage to the shackle likely occurred gradually over multiple annual inspection periods after a brass bush failed. The failed bush and worn bolt were readily identifiable on inspection.

The school’s playground equipment was installed in 2012. None of the playground equipment was ever given a comprehensive annual inspection in the eight years prior to the offence. Nor did any of the quarterly inspections include the load bearing moving parts of the swings.

The applicable Australian Standard allows a maximum three-month period between inspections of the shackles and bearings. The Australian Standard was never correctly applied or followed by the Department for Education in the eight years prior to the offence.

The school’s playground equipment was immediately fenced off after the incident and later decommissioned. A new playground was installed at a cost of about $290,000.

Prior to the incident, the Department for Infrastructure and Transport had written to the Department for Education, outlining the Australian Standard’s recommended minimum quarterly inspection of moving parts of playground equipment.

The Department for Education was charged with one count of breaching its primary safety duty contrary to section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA).

A conviction was recorded, and the Department for Education was fined $225,000 following a reduction by 10% for its guilty plea.

The Department for Education was also ordered to pay a contribution to SafeWork SA’s legal costs of $2,310, and a Victim of Crime Levy of $437.

Government of Western Australia | A transport and logistics company has been fined $625,000 (and ordered to pay more than $8,000 in costs) over the serious injury of a worker in 2021.

Toll Transport Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing serious harm to the worker, and was fined in Perth Magistrates Court.

In January 2021, the injured worker was employed as a forklift driver at Toll Transport’s premises at Perth Airport. Having returned from work after a shoulder injury, he was on light duties.

The area in which he was working included loading docks and freight bays where freight was delivered and sorted before being loaded onto road trains and transported to mine sites.

Some freight bays were marked with a sticker on the concrete floor that corresponded with an identical sticker placed on the freight.

On the morning of the incident, the injured worker was tasked with changing the stickers on the floor of the freight bays.

He was bending over changing a sticker when he was struck from behind by a reversing forklift, one of the three forklifts operating in the area that morning.

He suffered serious injuries to both legs, including fractures and crush injuries and the degloving of part of one leg, and has required five surgeries since the incident.

Government of Western Australia | A Jindalee building surveyor has been fined $5,000 for failing to ensure the proper management and supervision of building surveying work at sites in Balga and Wanneroo.

The Building Services Board found Chad Robert Harvey, trading as Core Building Surveyors, had shown a “concerning lack of understanding” of the duties and responsibilities of a registered building surveyor.

The Board imposed the fine at its meeting after considering the findings of a Building and Energy investigation.

At the Balga site, where a new two-storey group dwelling was planned, Mr. Harvey issued a certificate of design compliance (CDC), which is a declaration that a building will comply with applicable building standards if it is constructed in accordance with the plans and specifications.

The Board found Mr. Harvey’s CDC had failed to show compliance of the Balga building in areas such as storm water drainage, stair and balustrade construction, floor levels, construction of the steel frame, wall cladding, and fire safety.

These omissions created potential hazards related to fire, falls, health, and amenity due to structural, waterproofing, and drainage issues.

At the Wanneroo site, the Board found Mr. Harvey failed to provide supporting documentation or evidence of suitability for a change of use of a commercial unit.

He also should have issued a CDC but instead provided a certificate of building compliance (CBC) that did not show how the building complied with the applicable building standards in many areas.

The Board found Mr. Harvey had fallen short of the standards expected under WA’s Code of Conduct for Building Surveyors, which Building and Energy published in 2022 to guide registered building surveyors about their legal and public interest obligations.

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