On 10 April 2026, the defendants (a sole trader running a residential construction business and a foreman for that business) were sentenced in the Brisbane Magistrates Court for failing to comply with their duties under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) (‘the Act’).

The charge against the sole trader related to the failure to comply with a duty, pursuant to section 19(1) of the Act, to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers. The maximum penalty is a fine of $300,000.

The charge against the foreman related to the failure to comply with a duty pursuant to section 28(b) of the Act to take reasonable care that their acts or omissions did not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons. The maximum penalty is a fine of $150,000.

Each offence exposed individuals to a risk of death or serious injury.

The defendants’ failures involved failure to cover a void in a floor of a workplace. The void was present for two months while workers worked in the workplace. On 22 May 2024, a worker fell through the void 2.5 meters to the ground. The worker fractured a rib.

The court considered that the purpose of the Act is to secure the health and safety of workers and workplaces, and that the Act prescribes non-delegable health and safety duties owed by persons involved in work. The court also noted that the Act requires businesses to find and eliminate risks to health and safety and requires individual workers to take reasonable care that they do not adversely affect the health and safety of others, and that in this consideration, the duty holder must have regard not only for the ideal worker but for one who is careless, inattentive, or inadvertent.

The court took into account the principles of general deterrence and denunciation and noted that the potential consequences of the risk involved a risk of death, the likelihood of the risk occurring was moderate to high in circumstances where workers worked near the void for a period across two months, and that the steps to eliminate or minimise the risks involved a simple fix at a nominal cost.

The court also took into account recent authority from the Queensland Court of Appeal concerning principles to be applied in the determination of penalty under the Act and applied those principles when assessing each defendants’ offending. Notably, the court had regard to the seriousness of the offending and the relationship between that offending and the applicable maximum penalties ($300,000 and $150,000).

The court also noted that the defendants had no criminal history, had each pleaded guilty early, and each had co-operated with the investigation. The court also had regard to the victim impact statement provided by the injured worker which detailed the high regard in which the worker held each defendant and the apologies that each defendant had given to the worker.

The court imposed:

• a $50,000 fine for the sole trader. No conviction was recorded.
• a $10,000 fine for the foreman. No conviction was recorded.

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