900k in WHS Fines: Employers Ignore Inspectors, Workers Pay the Price

$900,000 in WHS fines for ignoring inspectors and threatening workers

Two Victorian employers have just copped a massive $900,000 in WHS fines for ignoring inspectors, brushing off basic safety, and threatening workers who dared to speak up.

$700,000 for repeatedly ignoring fall risks – Proform Roofing (Vic) Pty Ltd

Proform Roofing (Vic) Pty Ltd was smashed with a total of $700,000 in fines and costs for repeated fall-from-height breaches across multiple residential construction sites.

Inspectors found workers three metres up on roofs with no guardrails, no harnesses, no passive fall protection, and no SWMS for high-risk construction work.

Even after an improvement notice directing Proform to only start roof work once compliant fall prevention was in place, inspectors kept finding the same thing: workers on roofs, totally exposed.

The company was convicted of breaching sections 21 and 23 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) and the OHS Regulations 2017 for failing to control fall risks and failing to prepare and follow a SWMS.

Magistrates treated the repeat offending as an aggravating factor; Proform simply did not change its attitude to safety, so the Court turned up the punishment.

Bluntly? Proform Roofing (Vic) Pty Ltd is a shitty business that knowingly left workers one slip away from a fatal fall, even after WorkSafe turned up and spelled it out for them.

If you are working with precast or tilt-up concrete, download our Pre-Cast and Tilt-Up Concrete Standard (PDF) for a practical, no-nonsense approach to planning and controlling high-risk work.

$200,000 fine for “do it or lose your job” – WVCT Oz Pty Ltd (Western Victorian Crane Trucks)

WVCT Oz Pty Ltd, trading as Western Victorian Crane Trucks, was convicted and fined $200,000 after a truck driver was seriously injured doing high-risk crane work without a licence and without supervision.

The worker had only been there three months and did not hold a high-risk work licence for cranes when he was told his “training was complete” and sent out alone to deliver and unload steel trusses.

When he said he felt uncomfortable and didn’t want to do the job by himself, the operations manager allegedly told him he’d lose his job if he refused.

During unloading, the crane locked out because the load was too heavy; when he tried to manually reposition a truss (as previously instructed), the crane slewed and pinned him, leaving him with a broken wrist requiring a metal plate and 10 screws.

The Court found WVCT had a clear duty to supervise the task because the worker had no licence, and its failure to provide proper information, instruction, training and supervision amounted to a serious WHS breach under section 21.

Let’s call it what it is: Western Victorian Crane Trucks is a shitty business that put production over a rookie worker’s life, then tried to bully him into compliance.

If you want to see who they are, they’re right here: wvct.com.au and their crane and truck hire page.

WHS prosecution keywords and brutal lessons for PCBUs

WorkSafe Victoria WHS prosecution for fall from height, Category 2-style OHS breaches, repeated non-compliance with improvement notices.

Failure to control fall risks, no passive fall prevention, no SWMS for high-risk construction work, breaches of OHS Act ss 21 and 23 and OHS Regulations 2017.

Transport and crane truck WHS prosecution, unsupervised high-risk work, no high-risk work licence, failure to provide information, instruction, training and supervision.

Courts emphasise general deterrence, smashing employers who ignore inspectors and punishing workers for raising safety concerns.

When employers ignore safety inspectors, threaten workers who speak up, and treat WHS as optional, prosecutions like these aren’t bad luck, they’re inevitable.

For more plain-English WHS case breakdowns, templates and safety tools, visit our WHS resources hub at HSE Direct.