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Article: Occupational Health & Safety During Refuelling Operations - Responsible Employer Fined Heavily For Isolated Breach, Where Employees' Behaviour Objectively Indicated That OH&S Systems Were Not Effective.(John Holland Group Proprietary Ltd.)(Case overview)
- Article from:
- Mondaq Business Briefing
- Article date:
- July 29, 2009
- Author:
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Comcare v John Holland Rail Pty Ltd [2009] FCA 771
In Brief
The Federal Court of Australia has imposed a penalty of $124,960 on an employer for breach of s16(1) of the Occupational Health & Safety Act 1991 (Cth), despite acknowledging that the employer took seriously its responsibility to provide a safe system of work, both prior to and after the accident.
The incident involved unsafe refuelling of a friction saw used to cut railway track, so that fuel spurted from a container under pressure and was ignited by a hot weld.
The court held that circumstances where an employee was badly burned, and where the incident "could have been far ...