Workers struck by collapsing cabinet after botched install

A design and construction company has been fined $90,000 and ordered to pay costs for a Category 3 offence involving the collapse of a cabinet they had installed contrary to the manufacturer’s instructions (SafeWork NSW v The Danebritt Group Pty Ltd [2025])

The incident

The Danebritt Group Pty Ltd (Danebritt) is a Queensland-based business, employing about 50 workers, that designs and constructs interior fit outs for retail, hospitality and office spaces. Luxottica Retail Australia Pty Ltd (Luxottica) engaged Danebritt as the principal contractor to fit out a site in Lismore, New South Wales. Danebritt was requested to install a sunglass display cabinet supplied by Luxottica as part of the interior fit out.

From 18–19 November 2022, a Danebritt fourth-year apprentice assembled and installed the sunglass cabinet, with a site supervisor employed by Danebritt overseeing his work.

The Court heard that:

it was unusual for Danebritt to install a sourced item as it ordinarily designed and supplied its own cabinetry;
the cabinetry sourced by Luxottica was from a Chinese manufacturer and the instruction sheet was in Chinese, which the apprentice could not understand;
despite requesting additional instructions in English, the apprentice was allowed to install the sunglass cabinet before receiving a complete copy of the manufacturer’s instructions;
only four of 15 L-brackets supplied with the cabinet were used to assemble and install the cabinet; and
the apprentice attempted to test the stability of the cabinet by pulling down on it.

Danebritt handed over the site to Luxottica on 22 November 2022.

On 24 November 2022, while two Luxottica workers were stocking the display drawers of the cabinet, the cabinet fell off the wall and trapped the workers under it.

Charge and sentencing

Danebritt was charged with failing to ensure the health and safety of the Luxottica workers at the site. The Prosecutor decided not to charge Danebritt with the more serious Category 2 offence, even though two workers were struck by the falling cabinet.

In pleading guilty, Danebritt accepted that it could have reasonably eliminated or minimised the risk to the workers by:

assembling the cabinet using all components supplied with the cabinet such as the L-brackets; and/or
sufficiently securing the cabinet to the wall by using all the L-brackets supplied with the cabinet.

Danebritt was fined $90,000 and ordered to pay the Prosecutor’s costs.

How to determine award coverage
When determining whether or not an employee is covered by a particular award, you examine the nature of the work and the circumstances in which the employee is employed to do the work ...