Case Study: Health and Safety Breaches at Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd

This essay examines the critical importance of safety and risk management in the workplace, focusing on a specific incident involving Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd, a Canberra-based construction company. The incident, which resulted in the death of a truck driver due to electrocution from low-slung power lines, led to a substantial fine for the company due to breaches in safety measures. The essay details the conditions of the workplace, the associated hazards, and the failures in implementing adequate safety protocols such as warning signs, power line management, and competent safety personnel. It further discusses how these breaches could have been prevented through simple yet effective measures and provides recommendations for improving safety management to avoid similar incidents. The case underscores the severe consequences of neglecting safety and the importance of adhering to Work Health Safety Laws in Australia. Desklib offers access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students seeking to enhance their understanding of safety and risk management.

Running head: HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK
Health and Safety at Work
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary
The essay discusses and highlights the importance of the Safety and Risk Management, as it is
the vital part of the workplace, specially the construction company. The essay cites an incident
that pertains to the issue of security breach in a workplace and as a result of the security by the
Canberra based Construction Company, they were subjected to pay hefty amount of fine for not
following the security measures and controls. The essay highlights several safety measures and
approaches which could have been undertaken by the construction company in order to prevent
the incident.

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One of the major aspects of safety management system is Safety and Risk Management
(Glendon & Clarke, 2015). There are many factors that are present in the Safety and Risk
management. Some of the factors include identification of hazard, understanding and also
conceiving measurers of control (Khan, Rathnayaka & Ahmed, 2015). The method of hazard
identification involves detection and identifications of the potential hazards and also identifying
the mechanism of the potential hazards in an organization. The second approach involves
understanding of the safety behaviour and the influences it may have pertaining to the safety of
the organization. The third and the last approach that is included in the Safety and Risk
Management involve development of safety control measures in order to mitigate and eliminate
the associated risks and hazards. Thus, by understanding the safety and risk associated in an
organization, it is well understood that the breach in safety and risks management can be
catastrophic and it is deemed a punishable offence in Australia under the Work Health Safety
Law. This essay discuses the incident where there was a serious breach of safety and risk
pertaining to a construction company in Canberra, Australia named Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd
(ABC News., 2015). The essay describes the condition of the workplace, associated hazards and
also highlights how this breaches in safety could have been avoided or prevented. The essay also
provides the vital recommendations that are important to avoid the breaches of safety on
condition that I was responsible to ensure the safety system of this workplace at this company,
Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd.
The Canberra based Construction Company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd was founded in
the year 1995. This construction company is headquartered in Canberra, which is the capital city
of Australia. Canberra is also the largest inland city of Australia .The type of business in which
Kenoss Contractors Pty ltd is engaged generally involves construction of roadways, streets and

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highways. According to the reports, it was noted that this construction company, Kenoss
Contractors gave less importance to the Safety and Risk Management system within the
organization (Enhance Solutions., 2015). It was also reported that this company had a poor work
culture. They had employed a safety officer, who did not have the necessary qualification
deemed worthy for this responsible post. Not only that the safety officer hired by the company,
Kenoss Contractors did not possess the attribute of implementing safety approaches for safety
(Peace, Mabin & Cordery, 2017). The safety officer was related to the manger of the company,
so he got an undue advantage and was able to get the job of safety officer in the company even
without proper and adequate qualification required for this highly responsible post. Thus, it can
be said that the construction company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd, opted for a risky approach by
hiring an incompetent and ineligible candidate for the highly responsible post of safety officer
and it was foreseeable that this decision from the part of the company would lead to breaches in
safety and risk associated with the company, Kenoss Contractors. The safety breach incident
took place when a 48-year-old truck driver named Michael booth died after he was electrocuted
when his dump truck or the tip truck, which he was driving, touched the power lines, the power
lines were low-slung present in the worksite of the construction company, Kenoss Contractors,
Canberra, Australia. Michael Booth, the driver was delivering the load of material, the load
consisted of the gravel type material to the arena, which was outlined and demarcated with fence
and it was to store piles of material and piping, to the worksite of the company, Kenoss
Contractors where the severe incident occurred. The catastrophic incident took place in the road
that was resurfacing and where the project of Kenoss Contactors was on running in full swing on
the Barry drive located in Canberra, Australia. It was estimated that either the tip truck of the
dump truck, which the sub-contractor driver, Michael Booth was driving, were exposed to the

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power lines which was low-slung or it came near the vicinity of the live power lines. This
resulted in such a severity that the strong electric current was powerful enough to deflate the
tyres of the truck and it also left the burn marks on the road. As soon as the driver, Michael
Booth was electrocuted , he jumped out of the truck and he feel on the road and collapsed . Later
it was reported that the truck driver died. The construction company, Kenoss Contractors was
found guilty owing to the several breaches of the safety conduct that resulted in the death of the
sub-contractor driver, Michael Booth. ACT industrial Court adjudged the construction company,
Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd .guilty on the grounds of safety breaches, which resulted in the death
of the driver at the workplace of the company, Kenoss Contractors .Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd
was imposed a hefty fine of $1.2 million for this severe incident (The Canberra Times., 2015).
This is one of the first cases of Australia when a company was fined under the newly enacted
nationally harmonized Work Health Safety Laws (Australia, 2014). By giving this decision,
Mark McCabe, the ACT Work Safe commissioner, wanted to convey the serious message to all
the organization specially the construction companies persisting in Australia (Australia, 2015).
He wants to convey that if any of the organizations fails to comply with then safety measures and
it result in severe incidents, they would be subjected to such punishment of giving hefty and
other severe punishments. However, they also acknowledged the fact that the company, Kenoss
Contractors would not be able to pay the compensation amount, which had been imposed on
them as they had gone into liquidation. The court found that there had been several breaches in
the safety measures by the company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd. It had been reported that there
were no safety signs or flags present in the construction site where the road construction project
was going on full swing, to alert and warn pedestrians or other approaching vehicles of the
presence of live power lines. According to the reports it was also noted that the worksite of the

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construction company, Kenoss Contractors was not properly maintained instead was very poorly
organized. There were no locks present in the gates of the compound of the company, Kenoss
Contractors and the compound was used for the purpose of dumping materials and debris. While
the work was carried on, the power lines were not turned off and no spotter was engaged for the
work at the worksite. Kenoss Contractors had a very poor work culture and they had hired an
incompetent safety officer, who did not possess any the required qualifications that is necessary
to hold the post for the safety officer (Goetsch & Davis , 2014). He was the son of the General
manger of the company, which made him eligible for the post of safety officer. The safety officer
lacked the documentation and also lacked the systematic approach to safety which should be
followed in order successfully implement the safety measures in the company .This decision
from the part of Kenoss Contractors asserts the evidence of mismanagement and unethical
practices within the company . The decision to hire an incapable and incompetent Safety officer
always creates the scope, which invites the risk of breach of safety measures within the
construction company. The investigation reports of the incident suggests that the construction
company ,Kenoss Contractors were well aware of the lack of safety measures and poor safety
infrastructures that were prevalent in the company, which could have been avoided or prevented
by following simple methods or measures . However, the company, Kenoss contractors decided
to neglect this serious issue of safety management in the company and as a result, the severe
incident that took the life of the innocent driver took place (Thorogood & Crichton, 2014). Due
to the mismanagement from the company and breach of safety measures from their part, serious
injury and also fatal injuries were always on the cards. There were also reports that indicated that
the construction company ,Kenoss Contractors also tried to obfuscate the investigation of the
incident by modifying and manipulating the attendance records of the sub-contractor driver

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Michael Booth ,who had visited the work site of the company ,Kenoss Contractors for as many
as 13 times . The construction company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd neglected several aspects of
safety management and there were issues in the organization pertaining to the poor culture which
were prevalent in the company . According to the reports it was concluded that they were well
aware of the issues before hand and implementation of simple and apt measures would have
mitigated the associated risks and hazards. They could have avoided and prevented the accident
that took the life of the innocent driver, Michael Booth, but they ignored the issue. The truck
driver, Michael Booth died due to live power lines present in the worksite on the Barry Drive
road which electrocuted him to death, if they had provided proper boards, signs or flags, they
would have been able to alert the pedestrian or other approaching vehicles about the danger (Das
et al., 2013). It would have grabbed the attention of the driver, which Michael Booth was
driving to the worksite carrying the load materials. This simple measure would have prevented
the accident and the life of the driver would have been saved. The power lines of the construction
site were also not turned off during the work and no spotter was engaged to work who would
have warned about the upcoming danger. There were also other number of security breaches
from the part of the company, Kenoss Contractors which were associated with the incident. The
access to the worksite was not properly maintained rather it was poorly managed. The
contractors, who were engaged for the road construction project was not capable and did not
possess managerial capabilities. The gates of the compound were not provided with locks and it
also seemed that the compound was used for the purpose of dumping materials. There was
another instance of mismanagement from the part of the company and lead to the breach of
safety and resulted in the horrifying accident, they had hired an incapable and ineligible
personnel for the responsible position of safety officer (Douglas, 2013). The safety officer

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appointed by them lacked the required documentation and systematic approaches, which are
essential for the implementation of the effective safety measures. If Kenoss Contractors had
hired an Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) practitioner, the incident that caused then death
of the driver had not taken place (Endroyo, Yuwono & Mardapi, 2015). There were several
evidences that proved the fact that there were the company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd., did not
utilize several measures that could have been applied so that the risk could be mitigated but these
simple measures. The experts who were involved in the investigation of the case identified that
there were distinct lack of safety approaches from the part of the construction company, Kenoss
Contractors Pty Ltd. It can be summarized that the proper and efficient contractor or visitor
management system, which includes clearly defined system from the part of Kenoss Contractors
Pty Ltd, would have prevented the severe accident.
If I was responsible for the safety system in the workplace of the company, Kenoss
Contractors, I would have followed several measures that would have ensured the safety and
health at the workplace. The measures, which would have been followed by me, include
providing proper training, proper communication, provide proper equipment and supervise
frequently. I would have ensured that the all the workers and employees are provided proper
training by using videos and worksheets regarding to occupational hazards and safety in work
place (Laberge, MacEachen & Calvet, 2014). By communicating properly, I would have
ensured that all employees are aware of the daily proceedings in the workplace, which would
have prevented any physical harm. I would have ensured that all the equipments provided to
them are proper and well maintained (Ulang et al., 2014). I would have engaged people to
supervise the day-to-day proceedings in the workplace and if any issue or problems were
identified, they should be resolved immediately (Fengshou, 2014).

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References
ABC News. (2015). Canberra construction company fined $1.1 million over death of
truck driver. Available from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-19/construction-company-
fined-1-million-over-workplace-death/6708032 [Accessed on: 4-10-2018]
Australia, S. W. (2014). Australian workers’ compensation statistics, 2012–13. Canberra,
Australia: Safe Work Australia.
Australia, S. W. (2015). Work Health & Safety Perceptions: Construction Industry. Safe Work
Australia: Canberra, Australia.
Das, S., Patra, A. P., Shaha, K. K., Sistla, S. C., & Jena, M. K. (2013). High-voltage suicidal
electrocution with multiple exit wounds. The American journal of forensic medicine and
pathology, 34(1), 34-37.
Douglas, M. (2013). Risk and blame. Routledge.
Endroyo, B., Yuwono, B. E., & Mardapi, D. (2015). Model of learning/training of Occupational
Safety & Health (OSH) based on industry in the construction industry. Procedia
Engineering, 125, 83-88.
Enhance Solutions. (2015). Poor safety culture and lack of systems lead to fatality. Available
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lead-to-fatality [Accessed on: 4-10-2018]
Fengshou, Q. (2014). Reinforcement of Safety Awareness Training to Construction Workers in
Subcontracted Enterprises. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 5(6).

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Glendon, A. I., & Clarke, S. (2015). Human safety and risk management: A psychological
perspective. Crc Press.
Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
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Laberge, M., MacEachen, E., & Calvet, B. (2014). Why are occupational health and safety
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Peace, C., Mabin, V., & Cordery, C. (2017). Due diligence: a panacea for health and safety risk
governance?. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 15(1), 19-37.
The Canberra Times. (2015). Kenoss Contractors fined $1.1 million for workplace death.
Available from: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/actnews/kenoss-contractors-fined-11-
million-for-workplace-death-20150819-gj2fra.html [Accessed on: 4-10-2018]
Thorogood, J., & Crichton, M. T. (2014). Threat-and-Error Management: The Connection
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