WorkSafe

A roofing company has been fined $450,000 (and ordered to pay $3056 in costs) after a roof plumber fell through a penetration on the construction site of the new Perth Museum.

Charman Australia Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing serious harm to an employee, and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court yesterday.

Charman is one of the first companies to be prosecuted and fined under the regime of stronger penalties for breaches of workplace safety laws introduced in October 2018.

WorkSafe is undertaking a proactive inspection program to look at workplace safety and health issues in takeaway food outlets.

The program will involve inspectors visiting fast food outlets in Perth and regional areas of the State throughout the 2021/22 financial year.

WorkSafe Acting Director Carla van Ijzendoorn said today the inspection program had been prompted by continued significant numbers of lost-time injuries in the sector, along with the fact that young workers were most often injured.

A land development company has been fined $95,000 (and ordered to pay $2044.50 in costs) over an incident in 2018 in which a worker was seriously injured when a wall and a steel plate fell on him.

Wormall Civil Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing serious injury to an employee, and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court today.

A Welshpool sheet metal fabrication company has been handed one of the highest ever fines under WA’s workplace safety laws.

PGQW Pty Ltd– previously known as Boxline Industries Pty Ltd – and its manager Bradley Michael Shackleton have been fined a total of $650,000 over an incident in 2018 in which an employee suffered serious burns.

PGQW pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and, by that failure, causing serious harm to an employee.

A site supervisor at a land development company has been fined $10,000 (and ordered to pay $1172.50 in costs) over an incident in 2018 in which a worker was seriously injured when limestone blocks from an adjacent retaining wall and a steel plate fell on him.

Glenn Edwin Rush pleaded guilty to failing as an employee to take reasonable care to avoid adversely affecting the health of another person through an act or omission and, by that failure, causing serious harm to that person, and was fined in the Rockingham Magistrates Court last Friday.

A subcontractor on the Forrestfield Airport Link Project has been fined $200,000 (and ordered to pay $2847.50 in costs) over serious injuries suffered by a worker in July 2018.

Salini Australia Pty Ltd pleaded guilty in October to failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment and, by that failure, causing serious harm to an employee (maximum fine $400,000), and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court today.

A construction company has been fined $320,000 (and ordered to pay $22,212.45 in costs) over an incident in 2017 in which a young worker fell to his death.

17-year-old Wesley Ballantine died after he fell through a void in the roof of an internal atrium at the old GPO building during the construction of the H&M store in Forrest Place, Perth.

Industrial Construction Services Pty Ltd (ICS) was found guilty of failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and, by that failure, causing the death of Wesley Ballantine (maximum fine $400,000).

An exploration drilling company has been fined $256,000 (and ordered to pay $2363.50 in costs) over an incident in which a contractor died after being struck by a large “stillson” wrench.

The stillson – otherwise known as a pipe wrench – had been attached to a drill rig that was being operated under hydraulic power.

A South Bayswater engineering company has been fined $200,000 (and ordered to pay $3320.50 in costs) over an incident in which a worker’s arm was amputated below the elbow.

B&Y Precision Engineering Pty Ltd (trading as De Cassan Industries) pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and was fined in the Armadale Magistrates Court last week.

In October 2018, an employee at B&Y was instructed to polish a steel shaft to reduce its diameter so a bearing could be slid onto it.

WorkSafe is investigating the work-related death yesterday of a 72-year-old farmer at Maya in WA’s Mid-West, around 240km NNE of Perth.

The man was reported to have been jump-starting an old tractor in order to use it to release a bogged truck when the tractor struck him. It then continued travelling into a paddock where it hit trees and started a fire.

WorkSafe investigators examine the circumstances of incidents with a view to ensuring compliance and preventing future incidents of a similar nature.