WorkSafe Victoria has not published any further prosecutions. To keep up to date with new prosecutions, check WorkSafe Prosecution Result Summaries and Enforceable Undertakings webpage.
NSW: Sole director sentenced in tragic Sydney hospital incident
The sole director and employee of Pro-Med Services Pty Ltd has been convicted and a fined over the Sydney hospital gas incidents that killed one newborn baby, and severely injured another, could have averted the tragedies by conducting the simple tests he was qualified and paid to perform. He was convicted and fined $100,000 after pleading guilty to a breach of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 after the death of one baby and serious injury of another at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in 2016.
The man was one of several parties SafeWork NSW began action against after it was discovered that nitrous oxide and oxygen lines had been cross-connected and the testing that could have prevented the tragedies was not properly carried out.
One of the babies suffered serious injuries, when she was given the nitrous oxide during resuscitation. The other baby died following the administration of nitrous oxide instead of oxygen from the neonatal gas system.
Valerie Griswold, SafeWork NSW Executive Director of Investigation and Enforcement said that in 2018 SafeWork began prosecution proceedings against five parties for alleged breaches of the Act. “Two of these matters proceeded to a hearing at court, being the cases against installation company BOC Limited and its contractor Christopher Turner,” Ms Griswold said. The cases against two other defendants were discontinued for legal reasons. The case against another party, South Western Sydney Local Health District, was discontinued when it entered an enforceable undertaking with SafeWork as an alternative to prosecution. Read more: SafeWork NSW media release.
