WorkCover Authority of New South Wales (Inspector Katf) v Skilled Warehousing (NSW) Pty Ltd and APC Socotherm Pty Ltd [2005] NSWIRComm 296

Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales in Court Session

CITATION: WorkCover Authority of New South Wales (Inspector Katf) v Skilled Warehousing (NSW) Pty Ltd and APC Socotherm Pty Ltd [2005] NSWIRComm 296

PROSECUTOR: WorkCover Authority of New South Wales (Inspector Katf)

PARTIES: DEFENDANTS: Skilled Warehousing (NSW) Pty Ltd APC Socotherm Pty Ltd

FILE NUMBER(S): IRC 3397 & 3398 of 2004

CORAM: Staunton J

CATCHWORDS: Occupational health and safety - pleas of guilty - general principles - nature and extent of the obligations of labour hire companies - objective seriousness of the offences - foreseeability - general and specific deterrence - co-defendants with common factual matrix - principle of parity considered - no prior convictions for either defendant - subjective features taken into consideration - penalties imposed - orders as to penalty and costs.

Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 LEGISLATION CITED: Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000

Capral Aluminium Ltd v WorkCover Authority of New South Wales (2000) 49 NSWLR 610 Drake Personnel Limited t/as Drake Industrial v WorkCover Authority of NSW (Inspector Ch'ng) (1999) 90 IR 432 Ferguson v Nelmac Pty Limited (1999) 92 IR 188 Lawrenson Diecasting Pty Ltd v WorkCover Authority of New South Wales (Inspector Ch'ng) (1999) 90 IR 464 Lowe v The Queen (1984) 154 CLR 606 CASES CITED: Markarian v The Queen [2005] HCA 25: 18 May 2005 Postiglione v The Queen (1997) 189 CLR 295 R v Gallagher (1991) 23 NSWLR 220 R v Thompson, R v Houlton (2000) 49 NSWLR 383 R v Way [2004] NSWCCA 131 Thorneloe v Filipowski (2001) 52 NSWLR 60