WorkSafe

A WorkSafe proactive inspection program looking at safety issues in commercial kitchens in various workplaces has raised some concerns.

The program took place throughout the 2019/20 financial year, focusing on kitchens located in a range of workplaces including cafes, food courts and accommodation premises in metropolitan and regional areas of the State.

Inspectors from the Retail & Service Industries Team concentrated on the priority areas of manual tasks, electricity, slips, trips and falls and the use of hazardous substances.

WorkSafe has commenced prosecution action against a plumbing company and a construction company over the drowning death of a plumber in 2018.

Ryan and Melissa Pty Ltd – trading as Vivian Plumbing and Civil – has been charged with failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and, by that failure, causing the death of an employee in circumstances of gross negligence. The maximum penalty is a fine of $2.7million.

WorkSafe is investigating incidents leading to the deaths of two men in regional areas at the weekend.

WorkSafe has been notified that a 55-year-old truck driver was killed at Emu Flats (near Kalgoorlie) on Saturday when the water truck he was driving rolled on a dirt road.

Notification has also been received that a 38-year-old labourer died after being thrown from an all-terrain vehicle on a farm at Benger (near Harvey).

WorkSafe is continuing to look closely at workplaces in an effort to minimise the risk to WA workers of contracting the deadly disease silicosis.

A proactive inspection program began in July 2018, looking at stone benchtop fabricators where respirable crystalline silica (RCS) is generated during work activities.

It was widened in July 2019 to include other workplaces where RCS may be generated, such as during wall chasing and sample preparation in fire assay laboratories.

A tyre company and one of its directors have been fined a total of $70,000 (and ordered to pay $1,071 in costs) for failing to provide a safe work environment at their Malaga tyre outlet.

Vannevar Pty Ltd – trading as Townsend International Tyres – pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and was fined $50,000 in the Perth Magistrates Court on 22 September.

WorkSafe is investigating the work-related death of a worker on a building site at Curtin University yesterday.

It is believed that the death is related to the collapse of the roof of a building under construction, and two others are believed to be injured.

WorkSafe thoroughly investigates serious work-related injuries and deaths in WA with a view to preventing future incidents of a similar nature.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Darren Kavanagh said any work-related death was a tragedy, and relayed his sincere condolences to the man’s family.

A WorkSafe proactive inspection program has found that the owners of tower cranes have limited knowledge and understanding of the correct procedures for major inspections of tower cranes.

The inspection program was conducted throughout the 2019/20 financial year, looking at safety issues relating to tower cranes in service at WA construction sites in both metropolitan and regional areas.

WorkSafe WA Director Sally North said today the aim of the program was to ensure that tower cranes were being operated safely.

A Bayswater waste recycling company has been fined a total of $330,000 (and ordered to pay an additional $234,000 in costs) after being found guilty of gross negligence over a 2016 incident in which a labour hire worker’s arm was amputated at the shoulder.

Resource Recovery Solutions Pty Ltd was found guilty in the Perth Magistrates Court in July of two offences - gross negligence in failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment for a labour hire worker, and non-compliance with an improvement notice issued by WorkSafe.

WorkSafe has successfully prosecuted two companies and two individuals for breaches of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and Regulations.

Warren James Piggott, Screenwest Pty Ltd, Quentin Victor Healy and Hanssen Pty Ltd were recently successfully prosecuted by WorkSafe WA.

In Joondalup Magistrates Court on Friday a machinery operator at a recycling facility was fined $7500 (and ordered to pay $1000 in costs) for failing to take reasonable care during an incident in which a diesel mechanic was seriously injured.

The main contractor for the Forrestfield Airport Link Project has been fined $150,000 (and ordered to pay $3,000 in costs) after a worker sustained major electrical burns when a crane made contact with or came too close to high voltage overhead power lines.

Salini Australia Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the Perth Magistrates Court last month to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and, by that failure, causing serious harm to an employee. The company was fined on Friday.