Introduction
Health and safety offences by employees are in the spotlight
this week.
In a recent decision a Victorian Magistrate convicted and
sentenced a 21 year old construction worker to a four month
intensive corrections order after he pleaded guilty to recklessly
endangering another worker at his workplace. The worker was
convicted of a breach of section 32 of the Occupational Health
and Safety Act 2004 (OHS Act).
The incident occurred in 2009 when a construction worker, while
working on the roof at a housing estate in Melbourne's west
fired several nails at an apprentice, hitting and causing blindness
to his left eye.
On 8 September, two employees were convicted and fined $1,500
each for 'planking' at work. One of the employees lay
across the top of a canopy, while the other lay across the elevated
tines of a forklift several metres above the floor. In each case,
there was a significant risk of serious injury or death from a fall
and the behaviour
