UPDATE!! Workplace death, a life sentence: family

[Erik Sine]

UPDATE FROM THREAD

http://www.thesignsyndicate.com/forums/ind...?showtopic=1913

The mother of a Melbourne man who was electrocuted while at work says a $30 pair of gloves could have saved her son's life.

Lighting company Camden Neon Pty Ltd has been convicted and fined $300,000 over the death of Sion Rees, who was electrocuted while changing light bulbs in a display at a car yard in Coburg on April 18, 2006.

The Victorian County Court was told Mr Rees, 26, of Sunbury, had been using a screw driver to remove broken glass from a light fitting.

He was not given insulated gloves and was not instructed to turn the power off before changing the globes.

Camden Neon, based at Tullamarine in Melbourne's north, pleaded guilty to failing to provide a safe work environment for its employee.

Mr Rees' mother Myfanwy Rees said she never expected to lose her son in a workplace accident.

"I always tell my kids to watch the road," Mrs Rees said.

"But I never thought I would have to tell them to be safe at work, because you always thought they would be safe at work."

In an unusual move Judge Sue Pullen allowed a poem written by Mr Rees' sister Elen to be read before handing down her sentence.

The court has in past cases allowed photographs of the deceased to be displayed during sentencing, Judge Pullen said.

"Every day I exist is another without Sion," the poem said.

"Your life is now in the hands of a stranger who'll decide what it meant."

Judge Pullen said that safety procedures at the company were grossly insufficient and workers were lacking in the most basic instructions.

"The very tragic fact of this is that Sion Rees was electrocuted," Judge Pullen told the court.

"Culpability of the company in my opinion is very high.

"No doubt the death of Sion has caused a lot of grief to the family.

"Nothing can be done or said to compensate the family."

Judge Pullen said she had taken into account when sentencing that the company had pleaded guilty and had cooperated with the Victorian WorkCover Authority in its investigation of the incident.

She convicted Camden Neon and fined the company $300,000.

The maximum penalty is a fine of $943,200.

A heartbroken and distressed Mrs Rees, who was supported by her husband Handel Rees and daughter Angela during the sentencing, said the fine imposed on the company would not compare to the life sentence she had.

"All he needed was a pair of gloves and they cost thirty dollars," Mrs Rees said.

"Because he didn't supply the gloves, we were given a life sentence.

"It is a life sentence when you lose a child."

Housemate and childhood friend Ben Laurie said he was expecting the penalty to be higher.

"I was expecting more," Mr Laurie said.

"Whatever it is, it is not going to change the fact that what's happened has happened.

"We can only hope it doesn't happen again."

Edited September 22, 2007 by Westcoast Sign Guy

[B.O.P.]

I feel very bad for the family and all those involved. And it may sound cold under the circumstances, but simple basic common sense should have told him not to stick a screw driver in a light socket without checking the power first. It is unbelievable that this situation even happened.

[Erik Sine]

I feel very bad for the family and all those involved. And it may sound cold under the circumstances, but simple basic common sense should have told him not to stick a screw driver in a light socket without checking the power first. It is unbelievable that this situation even happened.

I was about to say the same thing. I don't know the exact details but I bet it falls under some OSHA paper that he was supposed to read and sign or acknowledge in some form but was aware out of common sense to make sure the power is off before touching components of live electricity. GLOVES??? I still could have made sure the power was off before touching it and not depend on some gloves to keep me safe. So now the company is made out to be the bad guy.

Common sense, always turn off power before servicing.

[fishing nut]

Ditto on that BOP and WCSG.

It didnt say if he was thier normal service guy.

I'm not surprised that this does not happen more. A lot of places I have seen the owners take anyone from the shop and put them where they want them even if they are not qualified to do the job. Instead of hiring the proper personel, everyone does everything.

It's a sad story.

[imanut]

Ditto on that BOP and WCSG.

It didnt say if he was thier normal service guy.

I'm not surprised that this does not happen more. A lot of places I have seen the owners take anyone from the shop and put them where they want them even if they are not qualified to do the job. Instead of hiring the proper personel, everyone does everything.

It's a sad story.

You guys speak of "common sense" like its common !!! Unqualified people doing work---NOT in the sign business !! Yeah, right. Take a guy off the street, and five minutes later he's bombarding tubes. I mean---it realy is an easy job.

gn

Edited September 7, 2007 by Gary Nutting

[Travis]

You know it, one day on the service or install truck and then you are certified to run a truck on your own.

[Travis]

This is the first time I sat down and read the entire story. First off what a f**king moron. When the dude was a toddler did his mother give him these $30 gloves, I doubt it. What kid doesnt try to put their fingers in the wall outlets? The lady got herself $300,000 by raising her son to be a dumb ass, good job lady. To me this is like the lady that sued the tabacco company because she got cancer from smoking for 30+ years.

[fishing nut]

How's this for a rocket scientist move.

A local shop was installing a raceway last week and the controls in the bucket locked up. The ground man saw a mechanic stick a screwdriver into the controls on the base of the truck to move the boom one time so he did it and the boom started going out straight and couldnt stop it 'cause the screwdriver got stuck. Needless to say the bucket went straight into the raceway crushing it and damageing the facia. The sad part was that the owner was in the bucket and the store owner was standing there. He was fired on the spot. The ground man IS a total idiot. The week before he packed up a bunch of small channel letters. He put them all into a box (no padding or anything) taped the box up and put it on the back of the truck. 50 miles later he opened it and guess what? His answer to why he did it was he didnt want anything to hit them while they were on the back of the truck.

Sometimes I am truely amazed at the way people think.

[imanut]

How's this for a rocket scientist move.

A local shop was installing a raceway last week and the controls in the bucket locked up. The ground man saw a mechanic stick a screwdriver into the controls on the base of the truck to move the boom one time so he did it and the boom started going out straight and couldnt stop it 'cause the screwdriver got stuck. Needless to say the bucket went straight into the raceway crushing it and damageing the facia. The sad part was that the owner was in the bucket and the store owner was standing there. He was fired on the spot. The ground man IS a total idiot. The week before he packed up a bunch of small channel letters. He put them all into a box (no padding or anything) taped the box up and put it on the back of the truck. 50 miles later he opened it and guess what? His answer to why he did it was he didnt want anything to hit them while they were on the back of the truck.

Sometimes I am truely amazed at the way people think.

Well------------at least the guy didn't lose any of the letters.

lAs for the truck controls-------------obviously the boss had known the bucket had previously known control problems??? If so----then he should have fixed the damn thing---------------owners aren't always the perfect little angels they pretentd to be.

gn

Edited September 22, 2007 by Gary Nutting

[Batch]

It said that there was a $300,000 FINE. Not a settlement assigned to the family.

OSHA requires that employers train and equip their employees to perform the work safely.

So our common sense says that an employer who is duly licensed and aware of ALL laws and safe practices regarding his trade will be informed about OSHA's rules regarding PPE and lock out/tag out rules.

Have you ever worked on ANYTHING hot?

Ever done it in front of an employee or co-worker?

If so then you should have also been wearing the proper hot work PPE.

Of course I can't think of a single exception that allows a sign guy to work on an energized circuit. Hell, I don't even think that turning the required disconnect off meets OSHA LO/TO requirements.

Anybody here ever use a piece of GTO to trouble shoot a neon circuit?

Ever install a time clock in a hot panel? Why so you wouldn't inconvenience your customer by turning off the main for 20 minutes?

Subtract $300,000 from your companies profits this year.

What about the time you would lose consoling family and going to the funeral. Time is money!!!

Hey and then what about all those bothersome OSHA inspections now that you are under scrutiny?

All of your guys have hard hats on, ear protection, safety glasses, several pairs of gloves to protect against the different hazards we face daily, steel toe boots. All of your guys have been trained in fall prevention and issued fall protection. They know not to use a shock absorbing lanyard with that rope grab and that they need a specific lanyard that prevents them from being able to climb or fall out of the arial buckets and lifts, right? You see so many people using a shock absorbing lanyard there as well. Guess common sense ain't so common.

Safety is a daunting task. We each have done a continue to do things that are unsafe. We have done it that way for years and nothing has ever happened to us.

Still a guy dies and instead of blaming him for his death. We should be learning from his death and teaching those we teach the lessons we learn.

The whole team should go home every day with a full count of toes, fingers and eyes. Every day all the time.

[teksign]

As to the common sense thing, many years ago I sent two employees out to install a sign with the crane truck, along the way they did a side job to put a $100.00 in their pockets. Anyways they hit a hydro-line and almost died, our ministry of labour were called in to investigate, I explained to them that they shouldn't have been there, it didn't matter. Everyone was summoned to court, the employees had quit, but in court they received a suspended sentence. I got a $25,000 fine, I argued that it was common sense that you do not operate a crane around hydro lines. Ministry of Labour said that because I did not have weekly, documented safety meetings with the only two employees I had, stating not to operate cranes around hydro lines, i was responsible.

Now I cover my butt, the new laws now state that an employee properly trained and warned can be dismissed without severence and also be penalized. Thats my experience with common sense.

Dave

[Signworksinc]

Either way the ministry of labour will dip into business owner pockets, where does this fine money go? sure doesn't go to training employees before we get them. When the MOL pulls out their book and start researching what you and employees should know and it takes them 4 hours to figure it out, how are we suppose to explain this to employees while they are on their personal cell phone taking calls and texting on our time?

Good luck, they will always charge the employer. Anybody have a story where the employer wasn't charged? Love to hear that