Inspector Gill v Concrete Recyclers (Group) Pty Ltd [2006] NSWIRComm 203

Industrial Court of New South Wales

CITATION: Inspector Gill v Concrete Recyclers (Group) Pty Ltd [2006] NSWIRComm 203

PROSECUTOR Inspector Steve Gill PARTIES: DEFENDANT Concrete Recyclers (Group) Pty Ltd

FILE NUMBER(S): IRC 5103 of 2004

CORAM: Staff J

CATCHWORDS: Occupational health and safety - Prosecution for failure to ensure person not in employer's employment not exposed to risk to health and safety - Injured person employed by trucking company delivering waste to site - Driver suffered serious injuries when front-end loader collided with truck while truck parked prior to unloading - Defendant engaged as subcontractor to sort waste material on behalf of head contractor - Defendant operated sorting of waste material at site - Risk of truck entering sorting area without knowledge of employees - Offence made out - Defences - Whether offence due to causes over which defendant had no control - Held defendant did have some control over bringing matters to attention of the provider of the facility - Whether "reasonably practicable" for the defendant to have complied with the Act - Balancing of the nature, likelihood and gravity of the risk, with costs, difficulty and trouble necessary to avert the risk - Not reasonably practicable for defendant to erect boom gate - Whether engagement of a yardman would have prevented the risk - Events that caused the accident beyond the control of the defendant - No reasonably practicable intervention by defendant could have prevented the accident - Held, defendant had established defence - Summons dismissed - Occupational Health & Safety Act 2000 (NSW) - Section 8(2) and 28(a) and s 28(b) - Costs