Details of successful prosecution against E246365 - Individual 2

Incident description

The defendant held duties under s.19(1) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 being a person providing farm management services directly to the owners of a property (who were his father and aunt).

On Saturday 19 August 2017 a worker received a serious injury when he was burnt in a standing sugar cane and sugar cane “trash” controlled burn at a sugar cane farm. He required multiple skin grafts and further laser surgery on his thumbs to regain full movement and has suffered a psychological injury as a result of the incident.

Court result

On 10 October 2019, the defendant pleaded guilty in the Ayr Magistrates Court Magistrates Court to breaching s.32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, having failed to meet his work health and safety duties and was sentenced.

Magistrate Osborne fined the defendant $30,000 and ordered professional and court costs totalling $1,596.15. The court ordered that no conviction be recorded.

In reaching a decision, the Magistrate noted it was difficult to assess penalty with limited appeal decisions as comparatives and that all matters were different and often had different facts.

In deciding penalty, Magistrate Osborne took into account the defendant had not been prosecuted previously for any work health and safety breach, co-operated with the investigation and entered an early plea of guilty.

Details