OSBORNE Park building company JWH Group, trading as In-Vogue Two Storey Designs) has been fined $4,000 for failing to provide adequate edge protection on a building site.
The company pleaded guilty in the Joondalup Court of Petty Sessions to failing to provide edge protection when there was a risk that a person could fall two or more metres, a breach of Occupational Safety and Health regulations.
A WorkSafe inspector visited the two-storey home building site in June last year as part of a program of proactive safety investigations in Perth’s northern suburbs.
The inspector saw two apprentices working on formwork for the first-floor suspended slab at a height of 2.8 metres with no edge protection provided.
The apprentices were required to work close to the edge and lean over the unprotected edges of the structure to pull mesh sheets onto the deck.
There is a code of practise on falls that provides information on the identification of common fall hazards at all workplaces and the use of fall-arrest equipment and systems, along with chapters on general work practices such as the use of ladders.
Copies of the code can be obtained at www.safetyline.wa.gov.au or by phoning WorkSafe on 9327 8777.
Falls has also been the subject of a trans-Tasman safety blitz, which found that about half the sites visited had workers exposed to risk.
Inspectors in both Australia and New Zealand visited 1,347 housing and small scale commercial sites and found 759 instances of non-compliance with OSH falls prevention requirements.
In WA WorkSafe inspectors had to take action in more than 200 cases to stop dangerous work at height in situations such as working on roofs without edge protection or using unsafe scaffolding.
Five workers have fallen to their deaths in WA in this financial year.