A Victorian solar installation company has been penalised by Victoria’s health and safety regulator with AU$100,000 in fines and ordered to pay AU$12,587 in costs after repeatedly exposing workers to deadly fall risks across four residential job sites.
Aus Renewable Development Group Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court, following a series of dangerous breaches under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The company pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including failing to maintain a safe workplace and failing to produce required documents to investigators.
The court heard that WorkSafe inspectors caught workers operating at dangerous heights without basic safety measures over a 10-month period in 2024.
At a Patterson Lakes property in February 2024, two workers were spotted on a roof up to 5.2 metres high without fall protection.
Three months later in Warrnambool, a worker used an unsecured ladder and worked up to 3.2 metres above the ground without a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS).
In July 2024, inspectors caught a worker on a second-storey roof in Point Cook, 5.6 metres above the ground, with zero guard rails or fall restraints.
The final straw came in September 2024 at a Vermont site, where a worker was found seven metres up wearing a harness that was not connected to any anchor point or rope.
WorkSafe Chief Health and Safety Officer Sam Jenkin criticised the company’s reckless behaviour, noting that employers cannot ignore height risks.
“It is clear that this employer repeatedly ignored their health and safety obligations regarding working at height and put their workers’ lives at risk, despite multiple warnings,” Jenkin said.
“This behaviour is completely unacceptable and this significant penalty sends a clear message that WorkSafe will not tolerate duty holders who fail to control the risk of falls – whether an incident happens or not.”
WorkSafe later established that Aus Renewable Development Group was responsible for the works at each of the sites and the company subsequently failed to produce requested documents and photographs to investigators.
WorkSafe reminded businesses undertaking high-risk construction work that using passive fall prevention devices like guardrails or scaffolding is reasonably practicable and mandatory to protect lives.
