On Call Cranes, who were responsible for the erection of the concrete panels, and Latham Construction between them paid $60,000 to Mr Tanielu’s family shortly after his death. The Court fined Latham Construction and it’s director a total of $63,000, while On Call and it’s foreman-rigger were both fined $5,000 and ordered to pay further reparation of $60,000 between them to the family.
Under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, employers are required to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of employees while at work. They also have a responsibility to take all practicable steps to ensure their own employees are not harmed by the actions of another company or its employees, such as happens in the construction industry where subcontractors are frequently employed.
In the case above, Latham Construction had a company-wide health and safety policy, but the Court found it did little to implement it or ensure that employees knew about it. It is not enough to assume that employees will always make the right decisions. Worksites with the potential for high risk need to have clear site plans for health and safety and employers need to ensure workers know about these plans.
Health and safety is an area where the Courts take a particularly dim view of lack of compliance with the law or regulation, especially when it leads to serious injury or death. And the costs of ignoring or paying lip service to the Health and Safety in Employment Act are not just Court fines or construction downtime – the tragedy of serious injury or death costs much more.
13 March 2009
