Charges laid over electrocution of insulation installer
Date issued: 2010-05-06
Queensland’s Department of Justice and Attorney-General has laid charges against a Beenleigh company following extensive investigation into the death of an insulation installer and the severe injury of a co-worker in the ceiling of a Meadowbrook home last year.
QHI Installations Pty Ltd has been charged with breaching section 30 of the Electrical Safety Act 2002 for allegedly failing to conduct its business or undertaking in a way that was electrically safe.
Charges have also been laid, under section 199, against company director, Christopher William McKay, and company manager, Christopher John McKay, for allegedly failing to ensure the company complied with its obligations under the Act.
The charges follow an incident on 14 October 2009 in which a 25-year-old male worker was electrocuted and his co-worker, an 18-year-old female received severe electrical burns to the left leg while installing foil insulation in the ceiling of a home at Meadowbrook, south of Brisbane.
A joint investigation was conducted into the fatal incident by inspectors from the Electrical Safety Office and Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, both part of the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.
The department has advised the deceased worker’s family and his injured co-worker that the investigation is complete and charges have been laid.
The complaints are scheduled for mention in the Beenleigh Industrial Magistrates Court at 9 am on 4 June 2010.
As the matters are before the court, the department is unable to make any further comment.
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