Victoria’s workplace health and safety regulator said Aus Renewable Development Group Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court late last month after pleading guilty to 10 charges under the state’s Occupational Health and Safety Act and OHS Regulations.
The company was fined $60,000 (USD 43,200) for five counts of failing to ensure workplaces under its management or control were safe and without risks to health, $30,000 for three counts of failing to provide or maintain a safe workplace, and $10,000 for two counts of failing to produce information and documents.
The company was also ordered to pay costs totalling $12,587.
The charges related to four rooftop solar installations conducted over a 10-month period in 2024 in the Melbourne suburbs of Patterson Lakes, Point Cook and Vermont, and the coastal town of Warrnambool.
Worksafe said two workers were observed in February 2024 on the roof of a Patterson Lakes property without fall protection equipment working at heights of between 2.6 and 5.2 metres.
In May of that year, Worksafe inspectors intervened when a worker was seen accessing the roof of a property in Warrnambool using an unsecured ladder and working at heights of between 2.7 and 3.2 metres without fall protection or a safe work method statement in place.
A month later, an inspector responded after a worker was spotted working on a second-storey roof at a height of 5.6 m without guardrails or fall restraints in place.
In September 2024, inspectors attended a property in Vermont where a worker was working at a height of about 7 m wearing a harness that was not attached to any rope or anchor point.
WorkSafe said it later established that Aus Renewable Development Group was responsible for the works at each of the sites and the company then failed to produce documents and photographs for investigators.
He regulator said it was “reasonably practicable” for the company to have reduced the risk of serious injury or death by using a passive fall prevention device such as guardrails, a work position system such as a travel restraint, a fall arrest system, or portable scaffolding; and a secured ladder extending at least 900 mm above the step-off point.
WorkSafe Chief Health and Safety Officer Sam Jenkin said strong enforcement action was required to deter employers from ignoring their obligations to keep workers safe.
“It is clear that this employer repeatedly ignored their health and safety obligations regarding working at height and put their workers lives’ at risk, despite multiple warnings,” Jenkin said.
“This behaviour is completely unacceptable and this significant penalty sends a clear message that WorkSafe will not tolerate duty holders who fail to control the risk of falls – whether an incident happens or not.”
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