On 13 November 2020, the defendant was sentenced in the Beenleigh Magistrates Court for failing to prepare or keep a hazardous chemical register in contravention of section 346(1) of the Work Health and Safety Regulation (‘Regulation’). Magistrate Brian Kilmartin convicted and fined the defendant $3,600. The conviction was not recorded.

The defendant conducted a business in manufacturing headstones at Loganholme. Hazardous chemicals were used as apart of the defendant company’s business activities. On 12 April 2019, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (‘WHSQ’) inspectors attended the workplace to conduct an audit, and discovered that the company had not prepared and did not keep a register of the hazardous chemicals kept at the business as required by the Regulation. An infringement notice in the sum of $3,600 was issued to the defendant, who elected in May 2019 to contest the notice in court. The defendant was subsequently charged, and entered a plea of guilty.

In sentencing, Magistrate Kilmartin commented that chemicals pose a risk to health and safety of persons at work, and as such it is a requirement to have a register of those chemicals in place. His Honour took into account the director’s guilty plea on behalf of the company, and that the company had since prepared and maintained a hazardous chemical register. His Honour noted that ignorance did not assist and imposed a fine in the same amount as the infringement notice, namely $3,600.

OWHSP contact: enquiries@owhsp.qld.gov.au