As the State Government looks to strengthen penalties for employers under the WA Occupational Safety and Health Act, the courts have provided a reminder to individuals about personal liability for accidents in the workplace.
On June 4 this year the Perth Magistrate’s Court handed down a record $40,000 fine to a WA owner/builder after a roof tiler became paraplegic after falling from an unguarded second storey balcony of a residential property in Wembley.
The magistrate, Joe Cicchini, found the owner/builder of the property, former builder Charles Carmel Saliba, guilty of breaching section 22 of the OSH Act.
Magistrate Cicchini found that planks installed at the Wembley property to prevent access to the unguarded balcony were not appropriate.
The previous highest fine under the Occupational Safety and Health Act was in 2002, when Go-Crete director Warren Crawford was fined $25,000.
Sparke Helmore partner Greg Smith said that, while the case appeared to be fairly straightforward, employers should remain aware of the potential for personal liability action to arise from a workplace accident.
“The hazards in this case were really fairly obvious and that is what the court found,” Mr Smith said.
“But … what we are simply saying is it just emphasises, again, the personal liability that can be attracted when there is a workplace accident and it is not just a corporate liability issue.”
