$75K in company/officer fines follow awning collapse injury

A shade solutions company and officer have been fined $70,000 and $5000, respectively, in the Brisbane Magistrates Court for breaching section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) after an awning collapsed during installation. The incident occurred in December 2021, when a worker engaged by a subcontractor was seriously injured when the awning he was assisting with installing in a Brisbane hotel courtyard area collapsed, striking him as it fell and causing him to fall off his ladder and to the ground.

The man suffered significant fractures to his right arm and lacerations to his right shoulder, which required surgery to insert a plate. The site was attended by a project manager working for the defendant company on multiple occasions — to take measurements, design the custom welded aluminium brackets to mount the awning on and arrange for them to be fabricated. The awning weighed around 620 kg and the project manager neglected to have the bracket design certified by a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ).

Designed by the defendant company, the mounting system provided inadequate support to prevent the awning from collapsing. The primary control for the management of the risk was for the defendant company to ensure the mounting system provided adequate support to prevent the awning from collapse, and ensuring the design of the mounting brackets had been certified by an RPEQ. The defendant company took many post-incident steps, including revising the drawings for the awning structure support system, ensuring RPEQ certification and arranging for new brackets to be manufactured.

Magistrate O’Callaghan found in sentencing that there was an obvious risk of serious injury or death, and the probability of it was high given the flawed design and lack of control measures. It was also found that the incident was easily avoidable and the controls were simple, inexpensive and entirely within the defendant’s control. The defendant company was found to have a high degree of blameworthiness, given it was responsible for designing the fundamentally flawed brackets, and that it was not momentary — in that the project manager had spent much time designing the bracket.

The company pleaded guilty to failing to comply with its primary duty to ensure workers’ health and safety, thereby exposing them to the risk of death or serious injury. The officer also pleaded guilty to failing to exercise due diligence to ensure the company complied with its duty, thereby exposing workers to the risk of death or serious injury. A training order was also made for the officer, requiring him to complete two training courses in both due diligence and risk assessment within six months. No convictions were recorded.

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