Rodney Morrison v Waratah Engineering Pty Limited [2004] NSWIRComm 38

Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales in Court Session

CITATION : Rodney Morrison v Waratah Engineering Pty Limited [2004] NSWIRComm 38 PROSECUTOR: Rodney Morrison PARTIES : DEFENDANT: Waratah Engineering Pty Limited (ACN 001 891 729) FILE NUMBER: IRC 4396, 4401 and 4402 of 2001 CORAM: Schmidt J CATCHWORDS : Occupational Health and Safety - prosecutions under section 15 and section 16 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1983 - mining industry - plea of guilty entered to amended allegations - first offence - proceedings against co-offender - parity - culpability - failure to ensure safety to service technicians - failure to instruct on automatic jack retraction feature of miner - general and specific deterrence - mitigation - two charges, common elements - defendant guilty of charge - penalty imposed - moiety to prosecutor - costs LEGISLATION CITED : Coal Mines Regulation Act 1982 Occupational Health and Safety Act 1983 Cameron v The Queen (2002) 209 CLR 339 Crown in the Right of the State of New South Wales (Department of Education and Training) v Keenan (2001) 105 IR 181 R v Sharma (2002) 54 NSWLR 300 R v Thomson, R v Houlton (2000) 49 NSWLR 383 CASES CITED : Ridge Consolidated Pty Ltd v WorkCover Authority of New South Wales (Inspector Mauger) (2002) 115 IR 78 Rodney Morrison v Powercoal Pty Limited [2002] NSWIRComm 298 Rodney Morrison v Powercoal Pty Ltd [2003] NSWIRComm 416 Rodney Morrison v Tahmoor Coal Pty Ltd (2002) 120 IR 153 WorkCover Authority of New South Wales (Inspector Dubois) v Integral Energy of Australia (2002) 113 IR 315 WorkCover Authority of New South Wales (Inspector McMartin) v Transfield Pty Ltd (No 2) (2001) 110 IR 160 HEARING DATES: 11/05/2002; 11/06/2002; 05/09/2003; 06/13/2003 DATE OF JUDGMENT: 03/19/2004