Illawarra Turf Club has copped a fine for a serious worker safety breach. Photo: Sang Hyun Cho, Pixabay.
The Illawarra Turf Club has been ordered to pay a $200,000 fine after a barman fell through a skylight.
Judge David Russell said the club had an “appalling attitude to worker safety” at the time of the incident; however, he acknowledged the club had taken significant steps since to remedy the situation.
The District Court heard that on 22 March 2022 Michael McLeod, a 57-year-old hospitality worker, sustained serious injuries after falling about 5.2 metres through a fragile polycarbonate skylight on the roof of a grandstand at Kembla Grange Racecourse.
Mr McLeod, who had worked for the club since October 2015, was usually responsible for setting up and cleaning up bar areas and function rooms.
On 22 March 2022 Illawarra Turf Club’s maintenance manager Garry Coles was installing aluminium roof sheeting over a section of the grandstand roof next to the parapet on the western side.
Company secretary and CEO Peter De Vries directed Mr McLeod, via bar manager Bernie Bandulet, to help Mr Coles install the roofing.
About 12 pm as Mr McLeod was preparing to leave the roof, Mr Coles asked Mr McLeod to take with him a cardboard box with some rubbish, which was located on the parapet next to the work area.
While attempting to leave the work area in the direction of the doorway, Mr McLeod fell about 5.2 metres through the skylight, landing on the tiled floor of the foyer below.
He suffered four broken ribs, a fractured shoulder, ongoing numbness to the right side of his body and intermittent dizziness.
The court heard there was no fall protection installed on the grandstand roof or around the perimeter of the roof.
On the day of the incident, one harness with rope attached was available for use by workers, but it was not worn by either Mr Coles or Mr McLeod. There were no secure attachment points for the harness on the grandstand roof.
Neither Mr Coles nor Mr McLeod had received any training in the use of the harness. Neither of the men were trained in working at heights.
There was no fixed or temporary cover capable of supporting a person’s weight available for the skylight.
There were no fixed or temporary barriers installed around the skylight to prevent access by workers on foot on the grandstand roof.
There were no markings or signage on the grandstand roof warning persons of the risk of falling through the unprotected skylight and identifying the area around the skylight as a “no go” zone.
Illawarra Turf did not undertake a risk assessment prior to allowing workers to undertake work on the grandstand roof.
Judge Russell found the offence fell in the mid-range of objective seriousness, due to the risk of serious injury or death.
The maximum fine for the offence is $1,782,579.
Judge Russell said an appropriate fine for this incident would be $250,000, however he reduced this by 20 per cent to reflect the club’s guilty plea.
After the incident Illawarra Turf Club engaged the services of a third-party organisation to look at the work health and safety issues at Kembla Grange Racecourse, and now hosts fortnightly online toolbox talks.
The club created a new position to include human resources and WHS responsibilities, including providing training to the board of directors in relation to their WHS duties.
Workers involved in working at heights, including Mr Coles, were required to attend working at heights training, and the separation of workers from types of work that do not fall within their duties or responsibilities has been reinforced.
The door that leads to the grandstand roof is now kept permanently locked and a structural engineer was engaged by Illawarra Turf Club to attend the site and provide a report on the roofs.
Illawarra Turf Club unreservedly apologised to Mr McLeod and Mr Coles, to the court, the racing industry and the community.
Prior to the incident, SafeWork NSW had not issued any improvement notices, prohibition notices, or any other notices to Illawarra Turf Club.
Illawarra Turf Club does not have any prior convictions under the NSW work health and safety legislation.
Illawarra Turf Club Ltd was also ordered to pay the prosecutor’s costs agreed in the amount of $40,000.
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