skip navigation
Back

Prosecution Details

Defendant Richard Sargent
Trading Name Not Applicable
Section 19(1)(a) [1]; and 19(3) [2]
Regulation Not Applicable
Offence Date Wednesday, 24 December 1997
Description of Breach(es)

[1] Being an employer, failed so far as was practicable to provide and maintain a working environment in which his employees were not exposed to hazards and in particular failed to provide and maintain plant such that, so far as was practicable, his employees were not exposed to hazards.

[2] Being the employer of an employee, who incurred an injury at a workplace, that was of a kind prescribed in the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 made under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 for the purposes of s19(3) of the Act, namely an injury which, in the opinion of a medical practitioner, was likely to prevent the employee from being able to work within 10 days of the day on which the injury occurred, failed forthwith to notify the WorkSafe Western Australia Commissioner in the prescribed form giving such particulars as are prescribed by regulation 2.4(3) of the Regulations.

Background Details

The injured person was a fifteen year old youth using a petrol driven cement mixer to mix mortar for the construction of a stone wall at Crystal Park Estate, Hopetoun. The injured person was using his left hand to grab the belt to help the mixer turn when his finger became caught between the belt and the drum of the mixer. The injured person lost the tip of one finger. The belt was unguarded at the time of the accident.

The defendant pleaded guilty.

The Magistrate commented that in his view an appropriate total penalty would be a fine in the region of $12,500 to $15,000. The dilemma being faced however, was that the defendant was not in a position to pay any fine let alone a fine of that magnitude. The Magistrate referred to the Sentencing Act 1995 which provides that unless a person has the capacity to pay a fine then a fine ought not to be imposed. His Worship imposed a conditional release order for 12 months in respect of each charge.




Outcome Summary convicted
Conviction Date 21 Jan 1999
Court Albany Court of Petty Sessions
Fine $7500 [1] & $2500 [2] conditional release orders
Costs Nil
Charge Number 85/99 [1] and 86/99 [2]