Novel penalty chosen for safety breaches

A Geelong company has chosen novel penalty options to atone for workplace safety breaches, agreeing to announce what it did wrong in a newspaper advertisement.

‘Enforceable undertakings’were made possible under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 as an alternative to prosecution in some cases.

They are legally enforceable and require a person or organisation to carry out specific activities to improve health and safety for employees and deliver benefits to industry and the broader community.

Casareccia (Homestyle), trading as Geelong Fresh Foods, has agreed to:

• place a half-page advertisement in the Geelong Advertiser within one month;
• have a principal of the company attend a five-day OHS course; and
• make a $5000 donation to the Salvation Army.

WorkSafe’s executive director, John Merritt, said alternatives to prosecution allowed a more constructive approach to OHS law enforcement.

“They provide a wide range of options for dealing with safety breaches, including apologies and compensation, research into workplace safety, training for employees and company officials and lectures to apprentices.”

A forklift operated by the company was seen by a WorkSafe inspector working in a public car park behind its shop in October 2005.

Inadequate control measures (signs and witches hats) were in place to ensure pedestrians were not hit by the forklift.

The inspector issued an improvement notice which was lifted several weeks later when an improved traffic management system was established.

However, when two inspectors were at the centre several months later, they saw a forklift operating in and around pedestrians with no controls to prevent a collision with members of the public.

Merritt said although no one had been hurt at Geelong West there was potential for serious injury or death.

“Forklifts are among the most dangerous machines in Victorian workplaces, with 56 people killed by them or falling loads since 1985. Of these, 12 were pedestrians,” he said.

“Getting safety right before someone is hurt prevents a lot of serious long-term consequences for workers, members of the public and Victorian business.&#822