Inspector Christensen v Harnischfeger of Australia Pty Ltd t/as H & P Minepro Services (Australasia) AND Inspector Christensen v Zelbarry International Pty Ltd [2004] NSWIRComm 131

Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales in Court Session

CITATION : Inspector Christensen v Harnischfeger of Australia Pty Ltd t/as H & P Minepro Services (Australasia) AND Inspector Christensen v Zelbarry International Pty Ltd [2004] NSWIRComm 131 PROSECUTOR: Inspector Madeleine Christensen

DEFENDANTS: Harnischfeger of Australia Pty Ltd t/as H & P Minepro Services (Australasia) PARTIES : (IRC 4832 of 2003)

AND

Zelbarry International Pty Ltd. (IRC 4833 of 2003) FILE NUMBER: IRC 4832 and 4833 of 2003 CORAM: Haylen J CATCHWORDS : Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 - s 8(1) & (2) - heavy mining machine maintenance and repair work - workplace accident suffered by employee of labour hire company at premises of host employer - both defendants enter guilty plea - submissions on sentence heard together - consequence of one defendant having a prior conviction for sentencing purposes and application of principles of parity, proportionality and consistency - requirement to take into account prior conviction does not lead automatically to the imposition of a higher penalty than imposed on related offender - primacy test of objective seriousness of the offence in each case - variety of considerations may lead to different penalties - penalties not to be disproportionate - concept of equal justice - host employer found more culpable for workplace accident and risk to safety thereby exposed - culpability of labour hire company found to be significant - existing safety systems ineffective - remedial steps clear and obvious - subjective elements considered - fines imposed. Bashford [2000] NSWCCA 426 Camilleri's Stockfeeds Pty Ltd v Environment Protection Authority (1993) 32 NSWLR 683 Drake Personnel Ltd t/as Drake Industrial v WorkCover Authority (Inspector Ch'ng) (2000) 90 IR 432 Lowe v The Queen (1984) 154 CLR 606 Pearce v The Queen (1998) 194 CLR 610 Postiglione v The Queen (1997) 189 CLR 295 R v Colgan [1999] NSWCCA 292 CASES CITED : R v Cox (1996) 66 SASR 152 at 159 R v Crump unreported NSWCCA 30 May 1994 R v Loosenoore (1980) 2 Cr App R (S) 92 R v Rushby [1999] NSWCCA 104 R v The Queen [1981] 3 Cr App R (S) 245 Signanto v The Queen (1998) 194 CLR 656 at 670 Slattery (1996) 90 A Crim R 519 Veen v The Queen (No 2) (1987-19880) 164 CLR 465 Warman International Ltd v WorkCover Authority (1998) 80 IR 326 WorkCover Authority (Inspector Ankucic) v McDonalds Australia Ltd (1999) 95 IR 383 HEARING DATES: 04/22/2004 DATE OF JUDGMENT: 05/26/2004