Inspector Mansell v Robert Josef [2003] NSWIRComm 375

Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales in Court Session

CITATION : Inspector Mansell v Robert Josef [2003] NSWIRComm 375 PARTIES : WorkCover Authority of NSW (Inspector Mansell) Robert Josef FILE NUMBER: IRC 5488 and IRC 5489 of 1999 CORAM: Curtis AJ LEGISLATION CITED : Occupational Health and Safety Act 1983 HEARING DATES: 09/15/2003; 09/16/2003; 09/17/2003; 09/18/2003; 09/19/2003; 10/07/2003; 10/08/2003; 10/09/2003; 10/10/2003; 10/27/2003; 10/28/2003; 10/29/2003 EXTEMPORE JUDGMENT DATE : 10/29/2003

Prosecutor: Mr M J Joseph SC with Mr P M Skinner Solicitors: Moray and Agnew LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: Defendant: Mr J R Young of counsel Solicitors: James Legal

JUDGMENT: - 16 - INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION OF NEW SOUTH WALES IN COURT SESSION CORAM: CURTIS AJ Date: 29 October 2003

Matter No IRC 5488-5489 of 1999 WORKCOVER AUTHORITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES (INSP MANSELL) v ROBERT JOSEF Prosecutions under section 50(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1983

JUDGMENT [2003] NSWIRComm 375

CHARGE No 5488 of 1999 1 Mr Robert Josef is charged in matter 5488 of 1999 that on 4 December 1995 at Kogarah, in the State of New South Wales, he was a director concerned in the management of Josef & Sons Contracting Pty Ltd, which corporation contravened s15(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1983 in that being an employer it then failed to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of all its employees, and, in particular, Bruno Brdaric, Hasan Alagic, Chris Stoeski, Daniel Josef, Gorco Trajcevski and Bernath Adler, in that it: (i) failed to take adequate steps to ensure the cutting off of a capped gas supply line, which was charged, was affected [sic] in a position which was safe and without risks to health; (ii) failed to take adequate steps to ensure no gas supply lines charged with gas were situated in areas where construction work was to be performed; (iii) failed to provide and maintain a system of work for the adequate protection, identification and warning of the existence of gas supply lines which remained charged in a construction area; (iv) failed to provide and maintain a system for performing work that was safe and without risks to health in an area where a charged gas supply line was situated; (v) failed to make arrangements for ensuring safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use of an excavator in an area where a charged gas supply line was located; (vi) failed to maintain the Kogarah Station Upgrading (KSU) in a condition which was safe and without risks to health, in that a charged gas supply line was located at a workplace: (a) within one metre of a building to be demolished; (b) that was not adequately protected or identified; (c) where earthmoving machines were operated. (vii) failed to take such steps as were necessary to make available to persons engaged in work at the KSU adequate information about the: (a) location of the charged gas supply line; (b) the risks associated with work adjacent to the charged gas supply line; (c) the type of work that might be carried out adjacent to the charged gas supply line.