Grim reality of work-related fatalities in Australia
A shocking level of work-related fatalities is disclosed in the figures regularly released by Safe Work Australia.
Fines & Breaches
Spike in the number of incidents on NSW worksites
Balcony falls, collapsed walls and cranes dangling off the side of high-rise skyscrapers are among a spike in horrific workplace incidents across NSW. These are the businesses which were responsible for some of the worst cases.
Company and director fined $466,000
Valley Sweep and its director Anton Zakic pleaded guilty in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court to a single charge each under the Occupational Health and Safety Act of failing to provide and maintain safe plant.
Company fined after chainsaw injury
A man at a Laverton North steel mill was rushed to hospital following a gory workplace accident. But the man’s employer told a court it wasn’t ultimately its fault the man was hurt.
Tyre company and director fined $70,000 over unsafe workplace
A tyre company and one of its directors have been fined a total of $70,000 (and ordered to pay $1,071 in costs) for failing to provide a safe work environment at their Malaga tyre outlet.
Builder in court over garbage chute fall
A Queensland construction company and its director are facing court after a worker injured his back falling through a garbage chute opening on a building site.
Dreamworld fined $3.6m
Dreamworld’s parent company has been fined $3.6 million after pleading guilty to safety charges over the Thunder River Rapids ride tragedy that killed four people.
Paper mill fined $1 million after deaths of two workers
A former paper mill operator has been fined more than $1 million following the deaths of two employees at the site.
$80k fine after a workplace accident
A Lilydale food company has been fined $80,000 after a horrific a 500kg corn milling machine fell on to a worker, leaving them with “life-changing” injuries including a punctured lung and fractured ribs, leg, ankle and lower back.
Companies fined for trying to unlawfully profit from Covid crisis
Australia’s health regulator has fined dozens of companies more than $800,000 for unlawfully advertising or illegally importing health products to profit from the pandemic.
Business fined after worker suffers hand injury
A manufacturing company has been fined $165,000 after a worker’s hand was partially severed when it was caught in a press.
Company fined over workplace death
A residential construction company has been fined $850,000 following the death of a tradesman who fell from a building site in Kalkallo.
Dismissing a long-term employee for a safety breach
The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission has upheld the dismissal of an employee with 30 years’ service and a satisfactory safety record after the employee breached a key safety protocol in which he had received adequate training.
SKM Recycling fined $115k following worksite accidents
A maintenance worker was dragged up a conveyor belt in a horrific worksite accident at SKM Recycling’s Laverton North site. Now the embattled recycler has faced court for that and another grisly workplace incident.
WorkSafe must investigate those who caused ‘hotel quarantine fiasco’
Victorian Liberal MP Nick Wakeling says if negligence and mismanagement can be tied to the death of a person then prosecutions will be open against those responsible for Victoria’s hotel quarantine bungle.
