THE SOUTH Australian Supreme Court has dismissed a joint appeal lodged by Santos and Diemould Tooling Services, in a court victory touted by SafeWork SA as a major clear-up of legislative technicality.
Both companies have been charged with breaches of the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986, and have yet to enter pleas. They jointly appealed on a legal technicality, based on the way in which the prosecution had drafted the charges on the complaints filed against them.
According to SafeWork SA, this Supreme Court judgement opens the way for prosecution of the two companies before an Industrial Magistrate.
Diemould faces one charge of breaching section 19(1) of the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986 over the death of 18 year old apprentice, Daniel Madeley in June 2004. The teenager was fatally injured when caught in the spinning shaft of a horizontal borer at the company’s Edwardstown premises.
Santos faces 8 counts of breaching section 19(1) and 5 counts of breaching section 22(2) of the Act following the Moomba gas facility incident on 1 January 2004. Santos also faces a charge under the Dangerous Substances Act 1979 as a result of this incident.
The latest clarification of the law follows the judgement in 2007 which cleared up the definition of ‘reasonably practicable’ in terms of an employer’s safety responsibility.

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