The sentence was handed down in the South Australian Employment Tribunal this week.

It followed a SafeWork SA investigation that found Port Augusta Steel Centre Pty Ltd and the two owners of the business breached their work health and safety duty and failed to provide a safe work environment for their workers.

In September 2020, a 16-year-old apprentice was crushed at work by heavy sheets of steel that fell suddenly from a failed storage rack.

The young worker was working with his supervisor to put away a delivery of steel sheets into the storage racks when the steel in the storage slot moved.

The pressure of this movement caused the two posts to snap, with the steel falling onto him in an uncontrolled manner.

The worker was pinned between the wall of the workshop shed and 30 sheets of steel weighing an estimated 1200 kilograms. He sustained a broken leg and soft tissue injuries.

No risk assessment or hazard identification method was undertaken for this task, nor was there any procedures for the unloading of steel delivered to the workplace into storage racks.

There was no evidence of inspection or maintenance for the rack and the safe working load of the storage rack was unknown.

In sentencing, Deputy President Judge Lieschke noted that while the worker’s supervisor instructed him on storing the steel sheets, this was not by reference to any set procedure.

‘A company does not mysteriously gain the knowledge of how to comply with its safety obligations upon incorporation; it requires active direction and management by the ‘duty holders’ in charge. Relying just on the experience and judgement of senior officers or employees rarely results in safety compliance,’ he said.

Port Augusta Steel Centre Pty Ltd were charged with:

• failure to comply with their work health and safety duty
• failure to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, a safe system of work to provide and a safe system of work for the task, thus exposing their employees to risk of serious injury.

Business owners Geoffrey Glen and Julie Glen were also charged with failing to comply with their obligations as working directors and exercise due diligence to ensure that the business complied with their health and safety duties.

The business and both directors pleaded guilty in the South Australian Employment Tribunal (SAET) for breaches of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012.

In the aftermath of the incident, SafeWork SA issued a series of compliance notices to the business:

• preventing the use of all steel storage racks in the workplace and including directions to ensure that storage racks used were designed by a competent person and tested to ensure they were fit for purpose and included load rating
• and instructing the owners to undertake a work health and safety management training plan.

The company has since engaged an engineer to provide engineering specifications for an appropriate steel storage rack design, fabricated new storage racks using the engineer’s specifications and implemented a new procedure for loading the storage racks with steel.

In June 2021, the business owners undertook work health and safety management training.

The SAET convicted Port Augusta Steel Centre Pty Ltd and imposed a fine of $134,000 (after discount for early guilty plea) plus legal fees.

The business owners were also convicted and fined $33,000 each (after discount for early guilty pleas) plus legal fees.

In his sentencing comments, Deputy President Judge Lieschke said the employment of young apprentices highlights the critical importance of taking a systematic approach to actively identifying hazards and controlling risks of injury, rather than relying on experience and judgement.

‘Young workers are necessarily unable to protect themselves by their experience and judgement. They, and their parents must place their trust in an employer complying with mandatory safety laws,’ he said.

SafeWork SA Executive Director Martyn Campbell said young workers are a vulnerable cohort, particularly in their first year in the workplace as they are still developing their skills, competencies and physical capabilities.

‘This is a perfect example of a workplace incident that could have been avoided if plant was in a safe condition and safe systems of work had been implemented.

'As a result, a young person sustained injuries that may continue to impact him for the rest of his life.'