The Court convicted a sole trader PCBU under s 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) for failing to ensure worker safety during shade sail installation at height, where the worker fell and sustained serious injuries. The Court assessed the offence as objectively serious given the obvious and foreseeable risk of falling from height, the absence of any SWMS, fall arrest system, supervision, or task-specific safety instructions for workers operating unsupervised, and the availability of straightforward mitigation measures. A fine of $250,000 was imposed, reduced by 25% for the utilitarian value of an early guilty plea and a further 10% under s 6 of the Fines Act 1996 (NSW) for limited capacity to pay, yielding a final fine of $168,750, with the Court noting that the non-delegable nature of the PCBU duty extends to ensuring safety systems are in place even when the duty holder is personally unavailable and unaware workers have accepted a job.
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