 Re: 2 Workers injured, company cops $17,500 fine
Now its not my intention to defend stupidity at work no matter who does it, but a few salient points to ponder over before jumping to conclusions (borne from being a Workplace Health and Safety Officer for 5yrs)....
1) News media are not going to give you either all the facts or all the history to any story, they'll give you what sells the story
2) The company was being charged under its failure to fulfill its obligation, a breach of the WH&S Act....charges against individual workers would not normally made in that hearing despite the breach being made against the same section of the Act (if charges were to be made at all)
3) Individuals are usually investigated for personal breaches in the event of a claim being made through WorkCover, or against their employer....(Death at work is very very different...just watch this space over the death at Brisbane airport!!!!!!)
4) The two fools would be guilty of breaching Section 28, and they would be unlikely to even a fraction of the normal entitlement.
5) In the event of a proven breach the Owner(if also the CEO) can get a double wammie, since he/she can be charged as both an individual and as the buisness....so in this sense (potential penalties) he/she carries greater responsibility.
BTW anyone who attended the last Qld Arb Camp had the opportunity to attend a mock court where exactly these issues and many others were extensively covered.
__________________ Sean  Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran
|