Fine for unsafe work environment
BASSENDEAN-BASED Park Motor Body Builders (WA) has been fined $1,500 and has had to pay more than $1,600 in costs for operating an unsafe working environment.
The motor body building company pleaded guilty in the Midland Magistrates Court to a charge of failing to minimise the risk of injury to pedestrians from vehicles moving around its yard.
A March 2007 investigation by WorkSafe observed that the movement and speed of vehicles and plant at the workplace were not being managed in a way that minimised the risk of injury to pedestrians, a requirement under the occupational health and safety regulations.
WorkSafe WA commissioner Nina Lyhne said inspectors found vehicles and pedestrians accessed the entire yard, and that employees walking in the yard were not isolated from the flow of traffic in any area.
The doors to the spray painting booth and paint store opened directly into the path of moving vehicles, and there were no signs warning of the presence of trucks moving through the area, she said.