The operator of a Henderson marine yard has been fined $340,000 (and ordered to pay more than $8500 in costs) after a worker was injured in a fall from stairs.
SFM Marine Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and was fined in the Fremantle Magistrates Court on October 15.
SFM operated the marine yard, providing the service of lifting boats out of the ocean for commercial and private boat owners and placing them on hard stands to allow for maintenance work.
In December 2020, a contractor who had been engaged by a boat owner to fabricate and install handrails on the boat fell from the top platform of a set of stairs being used to access the boat which had been placed on hard stands at the yard.
The handrail on the stairs gave way when he leaned against it and he fell approximately 2.5 metres onto bitumen, fracturing both ankles. Due to his injuries, he experiences ongoing pain and restriction in his activities.
SFM had acquired a number of sets of aluminium and steel stairs when it took control of the yard. Employees visually inspected the stairs and retained the ones they considered safe to use, including the set involved in this incident.
No formal procedures were in place for regular inspection and maintenance of the stairs, however a visual inspection was carried out by the yard manager when he placed these stairs next to the boat.
His visual assessment concluded that the handrail was intact because it was sitting in place where it should be.
Prior to this incident, the yard manager had voiced concerns to a safety consultant that stairs were non-rated and missing handrails, but the consultant’s observations and recommendations had not been received by SFM at the time of this incident.
SFM had a policy requirement for visitors to sign in and complete an induction form, but they did not consistently enforce the requirement for inductions to be completed. The company did not instruct the injured man to complete one.
WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said the case illustrated the need to regularly inspect and maintain equipment and to have formal procedures in place to ensure maintenance is carried out.
“In this case, the company depended on a simple visual inspection of the stair handrail,” Ms North said.
“A safety consultant had observed cracked welds on at least one of the stairs, something that might have also been observed by the company if it had conducted closer examinations of the stairways.
“However SFM did not have a formal process in place to ensure the stairs were regularly closely checked.
“Persons conducting a business or undertaking are advised to conduct a thorough risk assessment of the work and the workplace and must put controls in place to reduce the risk of injury to workers.
“This includes the risk of falls from height due to the failure of equipment.
“The company had a Safety Management Plan that included a system for managing risks associated with working at heights, but it evidently did not include regular checking that the sets of stairs were safe to use.
“It’s not enough to conduct a risk assessment and come up with a safety management plan if that plan is not strictly followed, as this penalty demonstrates.”