Lessons learned
Manage and monitor
Fall protection not used
Essential inspections
Enforceable
undertaking
Manage and monitor
A Nambour-based construction company has been fined $60,000 plus costs after a plumber was killed in a workplace incident at Nambour in October 2006.Sunacco No 17 Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in the Nambour Industrial Magistrates Court recently (February 21) for breaching section 28(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 (PDF, 766 KB), in having failed to ensure the safety of others was not affected by the way it carried out its business.
The court heard that a bobcat had been scooping and dumping sand in a trench while the plumbers were scattering sand over laid pipes. As the bobcat approached the side of the trench, the side collapsed, the plant slid into the trench and a plumber was crushed as the arm of the plant struck him.
The investigation revealed that the reason for the collapse was that the plant came into close contact with the side of the trench. The defendant had identified the risk of trench backfilling and entrapment but failed to adequately and effectively manage, supervise, assess, monitor and review these risks. Further, the bobcat itself was poorly maintained.
The court heard that any effective approach to safety needs to include not only an administrative control but also the monitoring of these controls and a practical analysis for their effectiveness.
As a result of the incident, the company has taken steps to ensure that such an incident does not happen again. Post-incident safety audits and controls have been implemented.
Fall protection not used
A Brisbane-based plumbing and roofing company, Rettingdon Pty Ltd, has been fined $33,000 after a worker was injured at Sherwood in September 2006.
The company pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Industrial Magistrates Court on 22 February 2008 to breaching section 28(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to ensure the safety of its workers was not affected by the way it carried out its business.
The court heard that at the time of the incident, three workers were replacing skylights at a business premises, when one stepped on a fibro sheet and fell about five metres onto a concrete floor.
He suffered pelvis, rib and elbow fractures, a punctured lung, and injuries to his adrenal gland and liver. He had three operations on his elbow and remained in hospital for a lengthy period.
The worker was not wearing a harness or lanyard and no other protection was in place to prevent or
minimise the risk of falling.
While the worker was considered experienced in his trade and owned a lanyard fall arrest harness, anchor points on the roof were positioned at distances which made it impractical for lanyard fall arrest harness systems to be used.
The workplace health and safety investigation revealed that a safety officer engaged by the company had inspected the premises some weeks before the job started but failed to fully assess the risk of a fall from the roof and to identify the impracticality of using the existing anchor points.
As a result of the incident, the company has taken substantial steps to improve the workplace health and safety of its workers when carrying out this type of undertaking. The installation of temporary plank walkways surrounding the skylights and the use of a scissor lift to assist in carrying out this type of work has resulted in the hazard responsible for this injury being eliminated.
Essential inspections
A Bulimba-based recreational dive training company has been fined $15,000 and a former director of the company placed on a 12 month good behaviour bond, after an investigation into the death of a diver near Flinders Reef off Moreton Island in March 2005.
Billionaires in Business Pty Ltd, trading as Pro Dive Bulimba, pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Industrial Magistrates Court to breaching section 28(3) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to ensure a safe system of work for diving during a student training course conducted under the PADI diver certification system.
The company admitted to failing to:
- adequately develop a regular inspection program to test and certify the accuracy of depth gauges used during dive training
- inspect depth gauges for accuracy
- accurately record depths shown on dive computers and the oxygen content of gas used by a diver, on a dive safety log and gas cylinder
- conduct adequate gas analysis to verify the oxygen content of gases used for diving by the diver.
The Court was told that, while there was no evidence these failures caused any injury, the risk of death or injury to divers and dive instructors from these failures was extremely high.
The Court also heard that the use of standard dive decompression tables relied upon the accurate recording of depths and mixed gas content to allow divers to safely carry out dive activities.
Industrial Magistrate Mr W Ehrich said that it was critical for details of those calculations to be recorded through the use of accurate devices such as depth gauges and dive computers, which was not done in this case.
Enforceable undertaking
A Beaudesert-based gelatine manufacturing company has completed an enforceable undertaking with the department after a worker was knocked from a platform in October 2003.
Gelita Australia Pty Ltd (Gelita) entered into an enforceable undertaking in December 2005 after a complaint and summons was issued alleging a breach of section 28(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, in having failed to ensure the safety of others was not affected by the way it carried out its business.
A WHSQ investigation found the worker was hosing out a lime pit with water under pressure and a sudden change in hose pressure knocked the worker off the platform, tearing a tendon in the left shoulder requiring surgical repair.
Under the terms of the undertaking, Gelita’s OHS Management system was audited by an independent third party and implemented a comprehensive training program that goes beyond mere compliance.
The company organised a successful Family Safety Day at the Beaudesert Showgrounds to promote both workplace safety and safety in the home. Gelita also implemented a range of on-site safety improvements aimed predominantly at reducing the necessity for manual handling tasks and confined space entries.
Table of contents | Rural Industry Action Plan released
Last updated 22 July 2008