Not so happy Christmas for ignoring Prohibition Notice

18 December 2007

A string of safety breaches concerning working at a dangerous height has landed an Altona North company in court with a conviction and $30,000 fine.

Apollo General Engineering (Aust.) Pty Ltd pleaded guilty at the Sunshine Magistrate’s Court this week to breaching a WorkSafe Prohibition Notice.

The company was also ordered to pay court costs of $4,086.

The court was told a WorkSafe inspector issued the Prohibition Notice after seeing an employee working at a height above two metres from the ground without fall protection at the company’s Altona North workshop on 26 July 2005.

Although scaffolding was set up on one side of the pressure vessel on which the man was working, the other side was unprotected creating the risk of the employee slipping off.

The notice prohibited any work at two metres or higher without effective fall protection measures, but when the inspector returned a month later, an employee was again seen three to four metres from the concrete floor without scaffolding or fall protection.

The employee said he was not aware of the Prohibition Notice.

On a third visit in December 2005, another worker was seen without fall protection more than four metres above the ground.

The company was placed on a bond and ordered to pay $2500 to the court fund in 2001 after an employee’s shoulder was  dislocated after he fell five to six metres when a piece of equipment failed in 1999.

WorkSafe’s Executive Director, John Merritt, said breaching Prohibition Notices was a matter that the health and safety regulator took seriously.

“With falls being one of the single biggest killers and causes of serious, permanent injuries, this matter was made even more serious.

“People often say they can’t supervise their workers all the time and that ultimately there’s nothing they can do.

“The long-established legal principle is that employers must constantly monitor employees and adopt an ‘active, imaginative and flexible approach’ to potential dangers.

“People in supervisory positions have a key role to ensure standards are maintained and enforced. It’s not just about getting the job done.                   

“The outcome of this case should send a very clear warning to this employer, and others, that they have clear and well-established responsibilities.

“While no one was hurt in these three incidents, the potential for death, paraplegia or brain damage was high.

“It’s not good enough to rely on someone’s skill or experience to get them home at the end of the day.

“It’s certainly not good enough to think ‘We’ve always done it this way without a problem.’ They can be famous last words.”     

WorkSafe will take part in a national safety program targeting falls from height in the construction industry in February and March next year. 

 The charge: 

Section 112 of the Occupational Health & Safety Act 2004 refers to the power of inspectors to issue a Prohibition notice to a person who has or appears to have control over the activity a prohibition notice prohibiting the carrying on of the activity, or the carrying on of the activity in a specified way, until an inspector has certified in writing that the matters that give or will give rise to the risk have been remedied.