Companies fined almost $1m after apprentice's death

Following a tragic incident in Victoria, in which a young apprentice was electrocuted, two related elevator companies have been convicted and fined a total of $930,000. At the time of the incident, the apprentice had been working for his father, who was the director of and effectively in control of both companies.

Nordic Elevators Pty Ltd and Nordic Elevator Services Pty Ltd were sentenced in June 2025 in the Victorian Supreme Court after pleading guilty to offences under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and the Electricity Safety Act and regulations.

Nordic Elevators was convicted and fined $300,000 for failing to provide employees with the necessary supervision to ensure they could work safely and without risks to health.

Nordic Elevator Services was convicted and fined $580,000 for failing to provide and maintain safe systems of work, and failing to ensure that people other than employees weren’t exposed to health and safety risks.

In March 2021, the 21-year-old apprentice electrician, who was employed by Nordic Elevators at the time, responded to a service call for a faulty car lift at an apartment building in West Melbourne. He was working alone while in contact with colleagues.

After learning that the apprentice hadn’t returned home at his usual time or responded to texts for several hours, the apprentice’s father went to the building and found his son unresponsive on the roof of the lift.

The court heard the apprentice had been electrocuted while attempting to change the door detector power unit without first disconnecting the lift from power.

A WorkSafe Victoria investigation found that the apprentice had been attending after-hours callouts on his own and performing the work of a licensed electrician without supervision for at least year before his death. The safety body determined it was reasonably practicable for Nordic Elevators to have provided the apprentice with supervision by an electrician holding an A Grade licence in accordance with the regulations.

Investigators also discovered that two other workers employed by Nordic Elevator Services would often perform electrical work despite not being licensed electricians. Nordic Elevator Services operated from the same location and shared jobs and workers with Nordic Elevators.

It was reasonably practicable, WorkSafe found, for Nordic Elevator Services to have provided and maintained a system of work in which electrical work would only be carried out by licensed A Grade electricians in order to reduce health and safety risks to both employees and non-employees, including the apprentice.

WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said the incident was a heartbreaking reminder of the consequences of failing to protect young workers.

“Apprentices depend on their employers to set them up for the future — not only with on-the-job training, but also by keeping them safe from hazards they are likely to encounter in their role,” Jenkin said.

“This young man was completely let down and could still be alive had these companies fulfilled their basic legal obligations.

“WorkSafe will continue to prosecute duty holders who turn a blind eye to safety, but no penalty is worse than the painful burden that this company — and family — now bears.”

The companies received a further combined fine of $50,000 after pleading guilty to 10 charges issued by Energy Safe Victoria.

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