Chief Executive found guilty of Health and Safety breaches that led to an employee’s death…

A former Chief Executive of a large company has been found responsible for facilitating an unsafe worksite which led to the death of one of his employees. The employee was crushed whilst at work after a mistake was made when moving a large piece of equipment.

The employee was completing his work while heavy machinery was being operated next to the area where he was working. While the employee was working some equipment fell and landed on him, causing him fatal injuries.

The Judge found that the Chief Executive had failed to comply with his duty to ensure that the company was exercising due diligence regarding its health and safety practices when conducting such dangerous work. It was also found that this failure to exercise due diligence exposed the employee, to a risk of death or serious injury.

The former Chief Executive was found guilty of a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act. Sentencing will take place in the next few months.

This is the first case where an officer of a large company has been charged personally for a failure to follow health and safety guidelines and should act as a major warning to officers (CEs, Directors, COOs etc) of large companies going forward.

The company was previously charged for a systemic failure to maintain and monitor compliance with the company’s health and safety protocol. One of the major health and safety failures was their bonus scheme, which incentivised fast work at the expense of safety. They were ordered to pay a fine of $561,000 for these breaches.