Coles fined $170,000 over worker's fall through ceiling

    AAP
    April 27, 2012


SUPERMARKET giant Coles has been fined $170,000 and ordered to pay legal costs after a worker fell through a ceiling at a store in Sydney five years ago.

The worker, then 42, climbed over a handrail to access promotional material stored on a suspended plasterboard ceiling at the company's Manly store in August 2007.

The plasterboard collapsed and she fell more than two metres, suffering lacerations to the head, whiplash and bruising.   :(

A WorkCover investigation found Coles knew it was dangerous to use the roof cavity for storage and had built a railing and posted a warning sign.

But management had not undertaken a risk assessment to determine how much weight the plasterboard could bear, and had failed to adequately instruct staff not to access the area or use it for storage, WorkCover said in a statement today.   :(

The Industrial Court of NSW fined the company and ordered it to pay WorkCover's legal costs.


"This business employs more 23,000 people in 238 stores across NSW, so the safety procedures of this company are relevant to a lot of people," WorkCover's Work Health and Safety general manager, John Watson, said.

"This particular area should never have been allowed to be used to store merchandise and Coles management should have been more vigilant.

"While store management knew the area was not safe, the area was still used for storage and there was no proper information or training given to staff to warn of the risk."   :(

mmmm, the boss asks a worker to do something stupid. the worker says"I'm not sure about how safe this is." the boss says "are you telling me you aren't going to do this? cause if you aren't going to do this i'll get someone else to do it" a euphamism for I'll fire your smacking arse and get another one of those 457 doods in..... The worker complies as she is barely able to scrape a living by now and she''l lose her kids to the social welfare department if sahe looses her job.

So she/he gets up there under duress - not really knowing what the bugger to do ad falls through the cieling..............

Who's fault is it? The smacking mongrel that told her to do the job.

How much money did the girl get?

Is this a way for Govts. to make some extra money?

I'm sorry, but anyone dumb enough to walk on a plasterboard ceiling deserves a few bruises ....

Johnsmith wrote on Apr 27^th, 2012 at 7:42pm:

I'm sorry, but anyone dumb enough to walk on a plasterboard ceiling deserves a few bruises ....

aaaand anyone cruel and acts in such an unconscieable fashion needs to be keel-hauled - literally. I hope the buggerer who direct the person to do this, has their arse summarily fired. It's just a pity the individual who directed the person to do this work wasn't charged with wilful damage/assault. not everyone is as smart as you are mate and I hope you can remember when their wasn't a time in your history when you didn't know everything about plasterboard ceilings........ 

Tumut mill fined $170,000 over workers' burn injuries
Christopher Knaus
April 28, 2012

A paper mill near Canberra was fined $170,000 over a safety breach in which two workers suffered serious chemical burns.

Two employees of the Visy Tumut Kraft Mill, about 100 kilometres west of the ACT, were seriously injured during routine maintenance work in 2008.   :(

The men were working on the chip meter, a machine that uses chemicals and extreme heat to turn woodchip into pulp.


But as they opened a door on the chip meter, hot steam, chemicals and woodchip poured out, causing ''serious chemical and thermal burns'' to both employees.   :(

NSW WorkCover investigated the incident and issued its findings yesterday.

It found the men worked on the chip meter before the chemicals and wood chip were removed.

Both men were also allowed to work without chemical suits.   :(

Visy failed to provide adequate supervision, training and instruction for the maintenance work, which meant it was not carried out according to company procedures, WorkCover said.

''Although the company had a range of safety policies, Visy had failed to adequately enforce those procedures and as a result workers were seriously injured,'' WorkCover said.

The company was fined $170,000 for breaching occupational health and safety law, and were ordered to pay WorkCover's court costs.   :-?

A Visy spokesman described the incident as ''highly regrettable'' and said the company placed the utmost importance on the health and safety of its workers. The mill was hit by a fire in an outdoor storage area on January 22 that shut down operations and burned through 1500 tonnes of waste paper, nearly half the amount kept at the site.

That fire smouldered for more than a week, before reigniting on February 2.

WorkCover work health and safety division general manager John Watson said the two men hurt in the 2008 incident were lucky to escape without more serious injury.

Mr Watson said WorkCover would work with Visy to make sure the incident was not repeated.

Read more: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/tumut-mill-fined-170000-over-workers-burn-injuries-20120427-1xqlk.html#ixzz1tIHdFJkn