On 6 July 2026 a company was sentenced in the Brisbane Magistrates Court for breaching section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) (‘the Act’), having failed to comply with its primary health and safety duty.

The defendant ran a business involving the installation of portal frames. In late 2023, it accepted an ‘add-on’ job filing fire doors with grouting product. This was not part of the defendant’s ordinary business. It assigned two apprentices, whom were both young adults, to the task. They were not instructed in how to safely complete the job; provided with adequate personal protective equipment; or adequately supervised. The defendant did not risk assess the task before it had the apprentices perform the work. There was no safe work instruction on how to complete the task safely.

The grout product hardened in the guns the apprentices were using. They had reported this to the defendant. One apprentice shook the gun to loosen the grout and pointed it towards his face. The gun discharged and the grout product when in his eye. He suffered a permanent injury to his eye requiring hospital admission. He was left with 5% vision in the eye and subsequently had the eye removed (voluntarily).

The prosecution submitted the offence was quite serious, the failures were broad, the need to reflect general deterrence and community protection in the sentence imposed, the decision of Nicholson v GCMR Project Services Pty Ltd [2025] QCA 242 and the comments regarding the discretion to record a conviction in R v ZB (2021) 287 A Crim R 519; [2021] QCA 9.

The defendant made submissions regarding its standing as a good corporate citizen, its support and reemployment of the injured apprentice, and characterised the offending as low to mid-range in seriousness. The defendant referred to numerous previous single Magistrates decisions and GCMR. 

The Magistrate considered the facts, characterised the seriousness of the offending as moderate, noted the defendant was a good corporate citizen, cooperation and compliance with notices, GCMR, the maximum penalty, the matters in mitigation and aggravation. The Magistrate noted no other decision placed before her involved a conviction being recorded. The Magistrate imposed a fine of $90,000 and no conviction was recorded.

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