Curwoods Lawyers Australia: Occupational Health & Safety During Refuelling Operations – Responsible Employer Fined Heavily For Isolated Breach, Where Employees´ Behaviour Objectively Indicated That OH&S Systems Were Not Effective
Comcare v John Holland Rail Pty Ltd [2009] FCA
771
In Brief
The Federal Court of Australia has imposed a penalty of
$124,960 on an employer for breach of s16(1) of the
Occupational Health & Safety Act 1991 (Cth), despite
acknowledging that the employer took seriously its responsibility
to provide a safe system of work, both prior to and after the
accident.
The incident involved unsafe refuelling of a friction saw used
to cut railway track, so that fuel spurted from a container under
pressure and was ignited by a hot weld.
The court held that circumstances where an employee was badly
burned, and where the incident "could have been far
worse" indicated that the employer's OH&S compliance
systems were not implemented effectively.
Background
The respondent employer provided railway track maintenance
services in Western Australia....
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