Summary of the Incident

Issues

The issue which is involved in the case is whether Longreach can be held liable for the situation under the work health and safety legislation.

Relevant laws

The issues can be resolved by making a discussion about the provisions of work health and safety legislation. For the purpose of understanding the liability of longreach, the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and Work Health and Safety regulations 2011 should be highlighted which provides a protection to the health safety and welfare of the workers at their workplace. Workers including employees, contractors, subcontractors and others are provided with protection under the provisions of this Act. It is provided under the Division 2 of Part 1 of the Act to make and ensure protection for the workers in the workplace from any risk to their health and safety. Further it provides that all the workplace must ensure appropriate review of the action which has been taken by the person who are exercising the powers under this Act. It is the duty of the person undertaking or conducting a business have a duty to ensure health and safety of the workers. Under Section 19 of the said Act, it is provided that the person who is conducting the business, should ensure safety regarding the health of the workers, maintenance of the system of work, safe use of the equipment and plants. The workers should be provided with adequate facilities at the workplace for their welfare. It is required that the management should look into the matter with serious concern where a defect relating to a work equipment is reported to them. The work related equipment should be inspected from time to time to avoid the likelihood of hazards and risks. It is provided under the Schedule 3 of the Act that the protective and safety system should be regulated under the provisions of this Act. Division 5 of Part 2 of the Act imposes certain penalties for not complying with the health and safety duties as mentioned under this Act.

Application

In this given situation, the workers were exposed to risks as their nature of work was such that they had to work from heights. Longreach was expected to observe strict protection for their workers. They are required to verify whether the safety system they are providing for their workers are sufficient. It is required that the person who are undertaking a business should properly maintain the safety equipment they are providing to the workers who are working from heights. It was the responsibility of Longreach to cross-check the fall protection systems. But herein, the Longreacgh failed to perform their duty. Additionally, they were not concerned about the ensuring the protection system even after being notified that the lanyards of the harnesses were not in proper working conditions. They overlook the foreseeable risk to workers which caused death to Mr. Liang. Mr.Liang faced the injury while working within his course of business, which is nothing but the result of lack of maintenance and care of the company to implement the Work Health and Safety regulations. At the same time, Longreach did not comply with the safety policy that the Fedcom had issued and breached the term of the agreement that they had entered into. Longreach had committed a breach to their duty to provide proper safety to Mr. Liang.

Liability of Longreach for the Incident under the Work Health and Safety Legislation

Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that, Longreach is liable for not complying with the provisions of Work Health and Safety Act 2011, and penalty can be imposed on them for breaching their duty.

Issues

The issue underlying the situation is whether Fedcom liable under the Work Health and Safety legislation.

Relevant rules

This issue can be solved by discussing the provisions of Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and Work Health and Safety regulations 2011. Part 3 of the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011 imposes a duty to identify the hazards in a workplace on the duty holder. It requires that the regulations for managing the risk in workplace must be complied with. Part 9.3 of the Act provides that management of risk should be appropriate and reviewed from time to time. The Work Health and Safety Act 2011 prescribes specified requirements which should be taken into account to determine the risk control systems for workers working at heights.

Application

Fedcom is the body that distributed grants which the Commonwealth Government provided, whose function was to make investment and providing grants. They had also provided a safety policy for Longreach. They were concerned on their part and performed their duty with due care. The policy ensures that the worker working on a height must wear safety devices to reduce the risk. There was no fault in part of Fedcom for the incident which happened to Mr. Liang. Their policies were effective but it was the fault of Longreach that they did not implemented the policy. The primary duty of Fedcom was to provide funds for improving technologies. To ensure whether the harnesses were in proper condition or not, was not the duty of Fedcom. There is no relationship between the duties of Fedcom and the incident which happened to Mr. Liang. No liability can be imposed on them under the Work Health and Safety legislations.

Conclusion

Hence, it can be concluded form the above discussion that, SafeWork NSW can not held Fedcom liable under the Work Health and Safety legislation.

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Legislation.gov.au (2018) https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2017C00305 Accessed on 11 September 2018

Work Health And Safety Regulations 2011 (2018) Legislation.qld.gov.au https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/sl-2011-0240

Working At Heights (2018) Safeworkaustralia.gov.au <https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/heights#overview>