A tragic workplace death has led to a $300,000 fine for an Adelaide electrical company, which SafeWork SA said showed “genuine contrition and remorse” as it was sentenced in court last week. JD Finlay Electrical was found to have breached safety laws after one of its workers became trapped in an electrical pit and suffocated in June 2022. The worker had been tasked with pulling electrical cables through conduit pipes which ended in the pit, SafeWork SA said.
“That a worker may then slip into the pit headfirst was a foreseeable risk. With a pit being 1240mm deep, the potential for serious injury was real.” “Of critical significance to my mind was sending a work crew to undertake a job in a non-standard workplace without prior risk assessment or accompanied by someone trained in risk assessment.