WorkSafe

WorkSafe inspectors recently visited a carpentry business where workers were in the process of making a large entertainment unit with an engineered stone top.

The stone had been cut the day before, and the factory was in the process of finalising fabrication of the cabinet.

A prohibition notice was issued to the business that required the stone slab to be disposed of and the evidence of disposal submitted to WorkSafe.

In December 2023, the decision was made to ban engineered stone slabs and panels across Australia, with the ban coming into effect from July 1, 2024.

WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said today everyone on both sea and land needed to have safe systems of work in place and operating when a cyclone approached.

“Employers must have adequate plans in place and must provide employees with appropriate training to protect everyone in the workplace when a cyclone threatens,” Ms North said.

A Kalgoorlie engineering company has been fined $685,000 (and ordered to pay $21,413 in costs) over the death of a worker.

Monadelphous Engineering Associates Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment and, by that failure, causing the death of the worker, and was fined in the Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court today.

The company provides maintenance and industrial services to heavy industry, including construction, painting and abrasive blasting of metal structures.

WorkSafe is investigating the work-related death of a male painter in his 60’s who was involved in an incident at Mandurah last week.

The male painter in his 60s was working from an A-frame ladder on Thursday when he fell, suffering critical injuries. He passed away today.

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

WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said the man’s death was a tragedy and relayed her sincere condolences to his family and friends.

WorkSafe has initiated the first three prosecutions for two fatalities involving mining companies under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020, which came into effect in March 2022.

In the first two prosecutions, mine contractor MACA Mining Pty Ltd and mine operator Greenmount Resources Pty Ltd have been charged with failing to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers while at work, resulting in the death of a worker.

WorkSafe is investigating the work-related death of a labourer at the road reserve on the Warwick Road offramp of the Mitchell Freeway this afternoon.

The man was reported to have been struck by a piece of equipment that fell.

WorkSafe investigators are currently examining the circumstances of the incident with a view to ensuring compliance and preventing future incidents of a similar nature.

WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said any work-related death was a tragedy, and relayed her sincere condolences to the man’s family, friends and fellow workers.

A timber processing company has been fined $385,000 (and ordered to pay $5976.70 in costs) after a worker was seriously injured in 2022.

Wesbeam Pty Ltd, a manufacturer and distributor of laminated veneer lumber, pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that fixtures, fittings or plant were safe and, by that failure, causing serious harm to the worker. The company was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court last week.

In April 2022, a Wesbeam employee was monitoring conveyors in the control room of the company’s premises in Neerabup when he left that room to attend to a blockage.

A South-West landscaping company has been fined $175,000 (and ordered to pay $6000 in costs) over an incident in which a worker was seriously injured.

SJK Landscaping Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing serious harm to a worker, and was fined in the Bunbury Magistrates Court last week.

In July 2022, two employees of SJK were sent to the Treehouse Child Care Centre in Donnybrook to clean the gutters and perform some other gardening services at the centre.

Alcoa of Australia Limited was today fined $400,000 and ordered to pay costs of $5536.70 after workers received burns from an uncontrolled release of caustic solution at the company’s Kwinana alumina refinery.

The group of people affected by the September 2022 incident included school students on a work experience placement at the site.

Alcoa pleaded guilty in the Rockingham Magistrate’s Court for failing to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA).