WorkSafe

Certain imported coloured sand products have been found to contain very low levels of naturally occurring asbestos. The sand products appear to have been mined and quarried overseas from quartz products that contain naturally occurring forms of asbestos. Australian Border Force (ABF) continues to make enquiries to confirm details of the importer(s) and supplier(s) involved.

The coloured sands are intended for use as an educational aid and for arts and crafts.

A Welshpool drill services company has been fined $897,500 (and ordered to pay almost $6500 in costs) over the death of a worker in 2023.

Airdrill Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court on October 22.

The company provides services relating to drill rigs, including design, manufacture and commissioning of new rigs and the maintenance, servicing and refurbishment of existing drill rigs.

WorkSafe has issued a reminder to have good risk management procedures in place on farms, particularly during the current harvest.

So far this financial year, eight Western Australian workers have lost their lives in work-related incidents, three of these in the agriculture sector.

Two workers lost their lives last week on farms in the Wheatbelt and Great Southern, and earlier in the financial year a worker lost his life at an agricultural farming site in Jarrahdale.

A total ban on the manufacture, import, and use of all forms of asbestos came into effect in Western Australia in December 2003.

WorkSafe have been working with impacted manufacturers and businesses regarding the detection of asbestos-containing fire-rated board (FRB) following information provided by the Australian Border Force. The FRB product was imported into Australia from China and on-sold to Western Australian (and other state/territory) manufacturers.

A Welshpool industrial spray painting and sandblasting company has been dealt the biggest ever fine under WA’s workplace safety and health laws over the death of a 16-year-old worker in 2023.

RPC Surface Treatment Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to ensure the health and safety of a worker and was issued a global fine in the Perth Magistrates Court yesterday.

In June 2023, a labourer who assisted with spray painting and sandblasting was killed when a steel beam weighing approximately 425kg suspended from an overhead monorail system fell on his chest.

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.

Three mining and construction services companies have been fined a total of $770,000 (and ordered to pay a total of $16,000 in costs) over the death of a truck driver in 2022.

Resource Operations and Maintenance Services Pty Ltd, Diverse Management Services Pty Ltd and Technologies International Group Pty Ltd (trading as Welltech Total Water Management) pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the health and safety of other persons was not put at risk from their work and were fined in the Perth Magistrates Court on October 14.

An air conditioning company and a company director have been fined a total of $140,000 (and ordered to pay $5661 in costs) over an incident in which a worker was injured when he fell through a skylight.

National Refrigeration Solutions Pty Ltd (NRS) - trading as Action Air Conditioning Services - pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment and was fined $120,000 in the Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Company director Kurt David Graham pleaded guilty to neglect with regard to the incident and was fined $20,000.

A transport and logistics company has been fined $625,000 (and ordered to pay more than $8000 in costs) over the serious injury of a worker in 2021.

Toll Transport Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing serious harm to the worker, and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court on October 3.

In January 2021, the injured worker was employed as a forklift driver at Toll Transport’s premises at Perth Airport. Having returned from work after a shoulder injury, he was on light duties.

WorkSafe has discontinued prosecution of the Department of Justice in relation to the psychological injury of a former prison officer at Bunbury Regional Prison.

The decision not to proceed was made on the basis of fresh evidence obtained in the course of the proceedings.

The department had been charged with failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and, by that failure, causing serious harm to a worker.