No SWMS $450,000 Fine

by ABILITY GROUP | May 15, 2023 | Work Health & Safety

AGL Macquarie (Liddell Power Station) was recently fined $450,000 by the District Court of NSW for failing to have a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS), resulting in an incident where an employee sustained severe burns.

The incident occurred when an oil cooler in a live transformer exploded due to a long-standing leak, which was assumed to be in a standby position. The Court found that AGL was aware of the risks associated with the introduction of air into the oil cooler, but failed to implement adequate procedures to avoid it. The Court ordered AGL to pay the fine after a 25% reduction for pleading guilty.

The maximum penalty for the offence is $1,766,130.00

The power station has four 500-megawatt steam generator units. Each generator unit has a turbine and three transformers, one of which is a generator transformer. Each generator transformer sits within a transformer tank and is immersed in oil which acts as insulation against the heat produced by the generator transformer.

An extract from SafeWork:

On 12 November 2015, two workers sustained burns when an arc flash occurred whilst they were undertaking maintenance and general inspection work on a transformer at the Liddell Power Station.

Alleged breach
Section 19(1) of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act), as a person with health and safety obligations prescribed under Section 32 of the WHS Act.

Summary of undertaking:
Activities AGL Macquarie Pty Limited will undertake will include:

• implementing a skills and competency program for workers
• benchmarking and tracking of safety culture at AGL Macquarie
• safety leadership training for AGL Macquarie leaders
• developing publications that focus on electrical arc flash
• sharing electrical safety awareness with the broader community
• supporting safety awards and initiatives within the Hunter Region
• undertaking an independent audit program

This undertaking has a total expenditure of $1.13 million.

Reasons for accepting the undertaking

• the alleged contravention does not appear to be a section 31 Reckless conduct category 1 offence, which if it was the case, would preclude the proposed undertaking from being accepted
• the nature of the alleged contravention and the actions taken by AGL Macquarie Pty Limited in response to the incident are assessed as being appropriate for consideration of an undertaking
• the strategies proposed in the undertaking have been assessed as likely to deliver long-term sustainable safety improvements in the workplace, industry and community
• the undertaking addresses the requirements contained within the SafeWork NSW Enforceable Undertakings Guidelines

REFERENCE
Source: SafeWork NSW
Title: AGL Macquarie Pty Limited
Link: https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/compliance-and-prosecutions/enforceable-undertakings/2018-eu-accordion/agl-macquarie-pty-limited