WorkSafe

WorkSafe has reminded owner-builders of their responsibility for workplace safety after an owner-builder was fined $25,000 and granted a spent conviction over an incident in which a worker fell from a roof.

The South-West owner-builder (who cannot be identified due to the spent conviction) pleaded guilty to failing to take practicable measures to ensure that persons at the workplace were not exposed to hazards, and was fined in the Margaret River Court on Monday.

The director of a shed building company has become the first person to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment under WA’s workplace safety and health laws.

Director of MT Sheds (WA) Pty Ltd - Mark Thomas Withers - was yesterday sentenced in the Esperance Magistrates Court to two years and two months’ imprisonment following the 2020 death of a young worker and the serious injury of another.

WorkSafe has commenced prosecution action against a subcontractor over serious injuries suffered by a worker on the Forrestfield Airport Link Project in July 2018.

Salini Australia Pty Ltd has been charged with failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment and, by that failure, causing serious harm to an employee.

On the afternoon of July 7, 2018, three Salini employees were engaged in connecting steel pipes in an underground tunnel near the Airport Central Station platform when there was a loud explosion.

WorkSafe has issued a warning to licensing assessors and industry in general after a Perth assessor had most High Risk Work Licence assessor classes cancelled for not properly assessing license applicants.

The assessor was registered to assess 18 classes of high-risk work, but 17 of these were cancelled after a WorkSafe investigation found the assessor was not properly assessing workers.

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.