Acquittal of building firm overturned

A Perth judge has overturned a decision to clear a construction company of failing
to maintain a safe workplace when a severe cyclone slammed into a West Australian
rail camp in 2007.
In October last year, a magistrate cleared Laing O'Rourke for failing to provide a
safe working environment and to train its employees against hazards.
A truck driver suffered 10 fractured ribs, two fractured vertebrae and a punctured
lung when Cyclone George tore through the camp in the Pilbara region in March 2007.
The man's donga, or living quarters, disintegrated during the cyclone's fury and he
was trapped in the wreckage.
In acquitting the company in 2009, Magistrate Peter Malone said Laing O'Rourke had
provided dongas that were an "appropriate refuge" during a cyclone.
Mr Malone said while the company hadn't provided an evacuation plan in its cyclone
training, it did not expose its employees to a hazard.
On Monday, after an appeal in the WA Supreme Court by WorkSafe, Justice Michael
Murray convicted Laing O'Rourke on two charges of failing to provide and maintain a
safe working environment.
Justice Murray found that Laing O'Rourke failed to provide adequate safety
procedures to be followed during a cyclone for both its employees and employees of
the contracting company.
Laing O'Rourke was contracted by Pilbara Infrastructure, a wholly owned subsidiary
of Fortescue Metals Group, to build bridges on a rail line.
They were undertaking track and bridge work as part of the construction of a rail line.
WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said the successful appeal sent a strong message
to all employers that workplace health and safety should be given high priority.
"It also underlines the fact that the responsibility for providing and maintaining a
safe environment may extend to the employees of a contractor," she said in a
statement.
"The events surrounding Cyclone George were tragic, and cases like this should serve
as a warning to ensure that thistype of tragedy never happens again."
Laing O'Rourke is one of eight companies charged in connection with the deaths and
injuries caused in the camp by the cyclone - two people died and 20 were injured.
Craig Allan Raabe, 42, of Gympie in Queensland, an employee of BGC Contracting, died
along with Perth mother-of-two Debra Till, a kitchenhand with maintenance services
company Spotless P&F Pty Ltd.
Justice Murray said he would consider submissions before sentencing on the charges
at a later date.