WorkSafe

WorkSafe and the Training Accreditation Council Western Australia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) allowing sharing of information about High Risk Work Licence training.

As the industry regulator, it is WorkSafe’s responsibility to ensure that licensed persons are trained to a level that enables them to conduct activities safely. The Training Accreditation Council (TAC) regulates registered training providers that deliver nationally recognised vocational training to domestic students in WA.

A construction company manager has been fined $60,000 (and ordered to pay $45,813.50) in costs) over the fall death of a 17-year-old worker in 2017.

Luke Fraser Corderoy, a manager of Industrial Construction Services Pty Ltd (ICS) was found guilty of failing to provide and maintain a work environment free from hazards and that the incident occurred with his consent or was attributable to his neglect.

A construction company has been fined $600,000 over serious injuries suffered by two workers at a construction site on Rottnest Island.

Firm Construction Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and, by that failure, causing serious harm to the two workers, and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court on Monday.

WorkSafe has commenced a proactive inspection program to look at safety issues in WA aged care and residential care facilities.

The inspection program will look at a number of randomly-selected facilities across metropolitan and regional areas of the State throughout the 2023/24 financial year.

Inspectors will place a strong emphasis on industry-specific hazards, along with workplace violence and aggression, staff training and other priority issues identified by WorkSafe.

A fire assay company has been fined a total of $30,000 (and ordered to pay $5647 in costs) after four workers recorded high levels of lead in their blood and one was hospitalised.

Jinning Pty Ltd pleaded guilty under the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 to two charges of failing to ensure that biological monitoring was conducted on an employee in a lead-risk job, along with two charges of failing to ensure that counselling and health surveillance were provided to workers in a lead-risk job.

A sole trader in the Great Southern has been fined $47,250 (and ordered to pay $4241 in costs) over a fall suffered by a worker that caused serious injuries.

Brett Sidney Cavanagh pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and, by that failure, causing serious harm to an employee and was fined in the Katanning Magistrates Court on Monday.

In August 2020, Mr Cavanagh had been engaged by Kojonup Auto Electrics to install insulation to the underside of a mechanical workshop roof and later to replace skylight panels in the roof with tin panels.

WorkSafe is investigating the work-related death of a worker at a steel manufacturing company in Jandakot yesterday.

The worker was reported to have been fatally injured when struck by a steel beam.

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

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

WorkSafe is investigating the work-related death of a 22-year-old worker on a farming property in the Shire of Dandaragan, north of Perth, on Wednesday.

She was reported to have been mustering cattle on a quad bike when the bike rolled, causing fatal injuries.

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

WorkSafe has laid charges against two companies after a worker died after falling around 20 metres from a roof under construction at Curtin University in 2020.

Steel fabrication company Elsdon Pty Ltd has been charged, being an employer, with failing to ensure the safety and health of persons not being their employees and, by that failure, causing the death of Jonathan Hartshorn and serious harm to another worker (maximum penalty $2 million).

A company that owns a vegetable farm and packing facility in Mandogalup has been fined $15,000 over an incident in which a worker’s arm was injured when it was trapped in a conveyor belt.

Ellement Bros Pty Ltd (trading as Ellement Produce) pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that dangerous parts of a machine were securely guarded and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court on Monday.

In May 2019, the injured worker was assisting another worker in the processing area where leeks were fed in and straightened before traveling on the conveyor to be further processed.