News & Views
6th June 2017
PCBU charged over missing RCD and electrocution
An employer whose CEO was unaware that residual current devices (RCDs) were mandatory under the WHS Act has been charged with safety breaches, nearly four years after a worker was electrocuted.
NT WorkSafe charged Austral Fisheries Pty Ltd with breaching s32 of the Northern Territory Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act, in failing to mitigate the risk of death from electrocution during the use of power tools on a vessel.
The employer could be fined up to $1.5 million.
In November 2013, the first mate on an Austral Fisheries prawn trawler in the Gulf of Carpentaria sustained a fatal electric shock when a wave washed over him and the electric angle grinder he was using to cut rusted shackles on the deck.
As reported by OHS Alert last year, Northern Territory Coroner Greg Cavanagh found the grinder was plugged into a general purpose electrical socket that wasn't protected by a mandatory RCD (safety switch), and Austral Fisheries failed to apply the hierarchy of controls to reduce the risk of electrocution (see related article).
He found the worker would not have been killed if the recommendations from a Western Australian inquiry into a similar fatality had "been followed, even in part", and Austral Fisheries' CEO was unaware that RCDs were mandatory under harmonised WHS laws.
Coroner Cavanagh also said it was "shameful" that no authorities had pursued any action against Austral Fisheries, and referred the matter to police, the Director of Public Prosecutions and NT WorkSafe based on his belief that "offences may have been committed in connection with the death".
The Coroner's June 2016 report triggered an additional 12-month limitation period for commencing proceedings against Austral Fisheries, under s232(1)(b) of the WHS Act.
On Friday, NT WorkSafe executive director Stephen Gelding said it was regrettable that the matter had taken so long to be brought to a court, but stressed there were jurisdictional problems, with the fatality occurring outside of Australian territorial waters.
"The location of the vessel meant the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland and NT WorkSafe potentially had jurisdiction to investigate," he said.
He said the preliminary findings from WorkSafe's investigation conducted prior to the coronial inquest were handed to Workplace Health and Safety Queensland "after we received legal advice that they had jurisdiction".
(Coroner Cavanagh found that advice was wrong, and expressed dismay at WHSQ's finding that Austral Fisheries hadn't committed any substantial safety breaches.)
Gelding said NT WorkSafe had "sought independent legal advice from an interstate senior counsel to ensure the question over jurisdiction does not impact on our prospects of a successful prosecution".
"I hope the laying of charges will assist in providing closure for [the worker's] family," he said.
The matter is listed for Darwin Local Court on 18 July.
