Victorian Prosecutions
Roof repair company fined after contact with overhead powerlines
The site supervisor and an employee of Rainshield Roofing Pty Ltd, a company specialising in all forms of roof repair such as roof renewals, installations, guttering and downpipes, had a close call when on 25 July 2017 they were operating a scissor lift near the roofline of a 4 storey block of flats in East St Kilda. Two other Rainshield employees were on the roof.
The handrail of the scissor lift made contact with both high and low voltage overhead power lines. By sheer luck no-one was injured. However the impact caused a major blackout in the immediate area. The work was high risk construction work under the regulations as works were near energised electrical installations or services. Also, it was conducted within the 3 metre No Go Zone around overhead power lines, without a permit from Citipower, and without a certified electrical spotter. No application for a permit was ever made to Citipower by Rainshield. Citipower charged Rainshield almost over $182,000 for claims paid to affected Citipower customers and for repair works.
The company pleaded guilty s21 of the OHS Act and was without conviction fined $25,000 plus costs of $4,022.
Manufacturer fined $35k
Entegro Group Pty Ltd, Brooklyn, a manufacturer of rubber parts for trucks and cars, and other things, has been fined over a January 208 incident in which a worker's arm was entangled in a machine.
A machine operator was using the "Winder Machine", used to separate a large roll of combined rubber skin and fabric into two rolls. He loaded a large roll onto the plant, and then fed the material onto two rollers by hand. He used a powered drive operated by a foot pedal to move the materials. The rubber material began moving too fast onto one of the rollers and it bunched up. He went around to the roller and began to manually 'un-bunch' the material. As he put his hand inside the roller to locate the rubber, he accidently stood on the foot pedal. The roller then starting moving, entangling his left arm.
Entegro was found guilty in its absence and was without conviction fined $35,000 plus $4,115 in costs.
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