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An Australian court has fined a subcontractor providing piling services at Columboola Solar Farm AUD40,000 ($26,300) for failing to comply with a health and safety standards after an aerosol can explosion caused a metal bar to strike a worker.
December 8, 2023 Bella Peacock
Columboola Solar Farm is in Queensland’s Western Downs region, and was completed in 2022 with full output in the beginning of 2023.
Image: CS Energy
Dalby Magistrates Court in Queensland has fined an unnamed piling subcontractor for failing its health and safety duty while carrying out piling work at the 162 MW (AC) Columboola Solar Farm,* owned by South Korean-based Hana Financial Investment and located in the Western Downs region.
The aerosol can explosion which caused a metal bar to strike a worker occurred between May 1 and July 16, 2021, according to Queensland court documents.
The subcontracted company pled guilty and reportedly cooperated with the courts, leading to a diminished fine of AUD40,000 ($26,300) and no conviction being recorded. Court documents also note the defendant had “suffered a downturn in work in the time since 2021” and as such had a limited capacity to pay.
In terms of the incident itself, the Queensland government’s Office of Work Health and Safety said: “One of the defendant’s workers was struck by a 4.7-kilogram metal bar while working on a piling rig at the solar farm. The metal bar was propelled into the worker after 12 Dulux galvanized aerosol cans exploded while they were stored inside a toolbox which was positioned on the same piling rig.”
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Neither the worker struck by the metal bar nor three other workers nearby were injured by the explosion.
However, the presiding Magistrate found the defendant should have known about the explosion risk from aerosol cans exposed to heat and trained its workers accordingly.
The subcontractor was also ordered to pay AUD1,500 in professional costs and AUD101.40 in fees.
*This article was amended on December 6, 2023, to correct the location of the incident. The original article stated the incident took place at Western Downs solar farm. Court documents referred to Western Downs only as the district of the incident.
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