Construction company fined $25,000 over workplace safety breach
Date issued: 2009-10-06
A Bridgeman Downs construction company has been fined $25,000 after a worker was injured at Chermside in April 2008.
Roca Construction Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Industrial Magistrates Court on 19 June 2009 to breaching section 24 of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to ensure workplace safety.
The court heard the company was the principal contractor for the construction of an eight storey residential building.
The worker lifted and attempted to move an unsecured piece of plywood covering a hole in the concrete floor at this site. He fell three metres through the hole onto the concrete floor below and sustained a cut to his hand and bruising to his tailbone.
The Workplace Health and Safety Queensland investigation found the worker had not been provided with any induction, training or instruction in relation to penetrations in the workplace. It also found the practices and procedures in place did not comply with the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 1997 and the Workplace Health and Safety Formwork Code of Practice 2006.
Industrial Magistrate Mr Paul Kluck, in addition to the fine, ordered the company to pay investigation, professional and court costs totalling $1699.50. No conviction was recorded.
The prosecution was brought by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, a part of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.
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