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Case Study: Business convicted for failing to
report a notifiable incident
Tuesday, 3rd March, 2015, by Alanna Furlan
In today's Health & Safety Bulletin:
- What is a notifiable incident?
- What penalties could you face?
- Case Study: Business convicted for failing to report a notifiable incident
Dear Reader,
Under health and safety legislation in all jurisdictions, you are required to notify your health and safety regulator of all notifiable incidents that occur in your workplace.
What is a notifiable incident?
A ‘notifiable incident’ varies across different jurisdictions, but the following types of incidents will always be notifiable:
- an incident resulting in someone’s death;
- an incident causing a serious injury or illness; or
- a dangerous incident that is the direct result of a work environment or work-related activity.
If a notifiable incident occurs, you must also preserve the incident site until a health and safety inspector arrives. This means that you must not touch or disturb an incident site except in certain circumstances, e.g. to assist an injured person or make the site safe for other workers.
What penalties could you face?
If a notifiable incident occurs in your workplace and you fail to notify the regulator, you could face penalties ranging from $8,856.60 to $25,000 for an individual, or from $44,283 to $50,000 for a corporation.
These same penalties apply for disturbing the incident site, unless you had a justifiable reason for doing so.
Learn more…
To learn more about what to do if a notifiable incident occurs in your workplace, refer to N1 Notification of Incidents in your Health & Safety Handbook or, if you’re not a subscriber, find out more about the benefits of subscribing.
Below, Michael Selinger discusses a case in which the court took an interesting approach to penalising a business for failing to notify the regulator of a serious incident or to preserve the incident site.
See you on Thursday,
Alanna Furlan
Editor
Health & Safety Bulletin
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Case Study: Business convicted for failing to
report a notifiable incident
By Michael Selinger
Editor-in-Chief, Health & Safety Handbook
Editor-in-Chief, Health & Safety Handbook
The Magistrates’ Court of Victoria has taken a novel approach to imposing a penalty on a company for failing to notify the safety regulator of an incident or to preserve the incident site.
The case
In WorkSafe v Mountfords Shoes Pty Ltd (2014), WorkSafe Victoria reported that Mountfords pleaded guilty to failing to notify WorkSafe of a serious head injury sustained by a worker while placing shoes on a shelf in a stock room.
The Court noted that Mountfords had also failed to preserve the incident site for when the inspector arrived.
Although the Court ordered an adjourned undertaking by Mountfords for a period of 24 months instead of a conviction, the Court imposed a special condition on the order that Mountfords pay money directly to the injured worker, as well as court costs.
The Court ordered that Mountfords continue to make weekly payments to the injured worker to ensure their statutory workers’ compensation from WorkSafe was topped up to an amount equalling 100% of the worker’s pre-injury salary.
This decision signals an attempt by a court to compensate an injured worker through the sentencing procedure for an incident caused by their employer.
What you can learn from this
This case demonstrates the importance of being able to identify when an incident is notifiable and to recognise the responsibility to preserve the worksite for an inspection by the regulator.
You should ensure that you give clear instructions to managers on what constitutes a notifiable incident and who should be notified in the event that one occurs.
Warm regards,
Michael Selinger
Editor-in-Chief
Health & Safety Handbook
Michael Selinger
Editor-in-Chief
Health & Safety Handbook
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Health & Safety Bulletin ISSN 1837-6533
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Albert Park VIC 3206
Australia
The information in this email is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorised. If you are not the intended recipient, please return the message to the sender and delete it from your records. All content is © 2007-2015 Portner Press Pty Ltd All Rights Reserved.
Disclaimer: We research our recommendations and articles thoroughly, but disclaim all liability for any inaccuracies or omissions found in our publications. Click here to view our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.
Queries: For general enquiries, email cs@portnerpress.com.au or call 1300 782 911.
Health & Safety Helpdesk: Paid subscribers to the Health & Safety Handbook can ask our experts for advice.
Syndication: To republish an Health & Safety Bulletin article, please email cs@portnerpress.com.au for information.
Health & Safety Bulletin ISSN 1837-6533
Portner Press Pty Ltd
96-98 Bridport Street
Albert Park VIC 3206
Australia
