Alcoa fined for contractor death

International aluminium producer Alcoa has joined a number of companies fined for workplace deaths this year, today receiving a $68,000 fine for a fatality at its Wagerup refinery five years ago.

Patrick Fry, an employee of Transpacific Industries, was contracted to work at the facility around 35 kilometres south of Mandurah, before his death in September 2009.

Mr Fry fell 25 metres through a manhole while cleaning a metal tank.

The company said in a statement it “sincerely regrets the circumstances surrounding this tragic accident and once again extends its condolences to Mr Fry's family, friends and work mates”.

The company now requires barriers to be erected around similar inspection holes.

Transpacific Industries was fined $170,500 in 2012 for the fall.

Worksafe said last month that there had been 17 deaths through workplace falls in the past four years.

It follows a $115,00 fine last month handed down for the death of Crushing Services International employee Kurt Williams in August 2013.

Mr Williams was working as a contractor for the Mineral Resources subsidiary at Fortescue Metals Group's Christmas Creek mine when he was crushed by a ladder.

The company lodged an early guilty plea, resulting in a reduction to the initial fine of $225,000, which was then further reduced due to the company's remorse.

Construction company Cochrane & Sons and Total Landscape Redevelopment Service have received fines this year.

Cochrane was fined $65,000 for the death of a man who fell 7 metres in Esperance in March 2011, while Total was fined $95,000 after a young man was struck by a bobcat on a landscaping site in November 2011.

The City of Stirling was fined $20,000 for that incident.

In July, Paspaley Pearling Company was charged for the death of Jarrod Hampton in April 2012.