Energy Australia has been fined $1.5 million (US$1.03 million) after a veteran Yallourn power station worker suffered fatal burns to 90 per cent of his body in an electrical explosion.
Graeme Edwards was highly trained and had worked at the power station for more than 30 years when he volunteered to connect a high-voltage cable to the section of the power station he worked on.
It was a routine procedure called racking, which involved placing a high-voltage circuit breaker into position in a cabinet while wires were live or energised.
Mr Edwards was fully trained and had undergone his required three-yearly retraining two months before his death in November 2018.
An infill panel above the 6.6kW control panel he was working on was loose, and at just the slightest pressure, it exposed him to live wires.
On November 12, as he worked on the unit an arc flash and explosion occurred while he was racking in, believed to be the result of the control cable making contact with live components.
Edwards suffered serious burns to 90 percent of his body and died in the hospital the next day.
Energy Australia Yallourn pleaded guilty to three charges of breaching the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The company admitted failing to properly install and inspect the infill panel, failing to properly train employees to connect the cables, and failing to provide and require employees to wear appropriate arc-rated personal protective equipment while they worked on circuit breakers on live high voltage switchboards.
“There is absolutely no excuse for it,” the company admitted during a pre-sentence hearing last year.
“It was avoidable, and it was preventable, and he shouldn’t have died. The reason why he died is due to the failings on the part of Energy Australia.”
Edwards was wearing cotton overalls which one expert described as “manifestly inadequate.” The overalls increased the area, depth and severity of the burns he suffered.
Appropriate arc-rated PPE, which had been provided to workers at a sister company, would have provided thermal protection and are self-extinguishing, Victorian County Court Judge John Carmody said on Monday.
Energy Australia’s manual also said the so-called elephant’s trunk cable should be connected before the racking-in procedure is completed, but employees commonly connected it afterwards.
Inconsistency between the manual, training and procedures was a breach of the law, the judge said.
Edwards’ coworkers described him as a helpful and respected colleague who always followed procedure.
After initially notifying Edwards’ family that no one would be prosecuted, WorkSafe took three years to lay charges against Energy Australia.
The company has made significant changes over the past four years, many directed at the causes of Edwards’ death, the court heard.
“It raises the question, why wasn’t all this done before November 2018?” the judge asked.
The cost of fixing or replacing the panel was minimal, he said.
A picnic area at the power plant and a Federation University scholarship has been established in Edwards’ name.
Energy Australia operations executive Michael Hutchinson and other executives were in court for the sentence and offered Edwards’ family, friends and colleagues their deepest condolences.
Additional safety procedures and improvements have been put in place since Edwards’ death and shared with other power station operators to ensure lessons can be learned, and there can be no repeat, Hutchinson said.
