SafeWork NSW v E.J. & D. Hammond Pty Ltd [2026] NSWIC 5

The Court found the defendant PCBU guilty of a Category 2 offence under s 32 of the WHS Act for failing to prohibit workers from entering a trench until it was appropriately shored, where the defendant's working director was aware workers had been entering the trench and knew shoring boxes were required but did not instruct workers to stay out. The Court adopted a purposive interpretation of the pleaded risk, holding that 'benched, battered and/or shored' refers to whatever combination of control measures is necessary to adequately protect workers, not merely the implementation of any single measure regardless of adequacy. However, the Court was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the benching in place was inadequate, as the prosecution called no expert evidence on that point and the geotechnical report addressed post-incident conditions; nor was the failure to obtain geotechnical verification of benching proven as a substantial cause of the risk exposure, given the defendant's existing intention to install shoring boxes.