On 22 July 2025, a company that conducted a business in housing construction, and its sole director, were sentenced in the Brisbane Magistrates Court for breaching section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) (‘the Act’). Both had pleaded not guilty and, after a three-day trial, were found guilty.

In 2018 the company was contracted to construct a residential dwelling in Fairfield. It engaged a number of subcontractors to undertake works at the site. On 29 May 2019, an electrician was onsite on the first floor deck completing electrical work. The first floor was approximately 2.7 metres off the ground and there were no safety measures in place to prevent falls or protect workers from falling over the edge. The electrician fell backwards from the first floor, landing on the ground beneath. As a result of the fall, he suffered paraplegia due to a spinal cord injury.

The company was found guilty of failing to install edge protection, external scaffolding, or a catch platform to manage the risk of falling from height. The director was found guilty of failing to ensure appropriate control measures, such as edge protection, were implemented before work commenced on the deck and failing to ensure there was a process for directing workers not to commence work until the control measure had been implemented.

In sentencing the defendants, Magistrate Pinder had regard to the following:

• The maximum penalty for the offences;
• The factual circumstances of the offending, including that it involved a fall from 2.7 metres and significant injuries being sustained;
• There was an obvious and apparent risk of fall from the first floor deck;
• Edge protection could have been obtained and installed at a relatively small cost of $2,000 and within a short period of time;
• The objective serious of the offending, which was noted to fall towards the upper end;
• That the matter was contested and defence took issue with virtually all of the complainant’s case;
• The defendants had no prior convictions and otherwise were good corporate citizens.

His Honour rejected a suggestion that the injured person was negligent in his actions in the lead up to the incident and that this conduct should be treated as a mitigating factor. His Honour also rejected a submission that the penalty in relation to the director should be moderated to avoid him being ‘twice punished’.

His Honour fined the defendant company $110,000, and the director $20,000. The scale costs and disbursements claimed by the prosecution were not opposed and, by agreement, were split evenly between the defendants. No convictions were recorded.

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