Employer and landowner fined over $200,000 each for blocking public road...

WorkSafe investigated a health and safety breach where a motorcyclist was severely injured on a public road after he collided with ropes across the road. The motorcyclist suffered fractures to his right rib and a laceration to his kidney. 

WorkSafe found that the ropes were placed across the 100kph road by a contractor using the land on either side. The ropes were in place for three hours. 

The contractor and the landowner both failed to notify WorkSafe of this incident. The victim reported the incident himself. 

The WorkSafe investigator stated that there should have been a warning sign in place a reasonable distance back on either side of the blocked road.

Employees should also have been present at the obstruction and have not left it unattended.

The District Court fined the contractor $220,000 and the land owner $211,700 for failing to comply with their duties of ensuring the health and safety of other persons, and for exposing road users to the risk of collision, death, or serious injury. 

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