A recent WorkSafe prosecution reminds employees of their responsibility towards fellow employees under the OSH legislation.
Craig Robert Lee was prosecuted in Perth Magistrates' Court under s.20(1)(b) & 20A(3) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 for failing to "take reasonable care to avoid adversely affecting the safety or health of any other person through any act or omission at work, and by that contravention caused serious harm to any other person."
The Accused was employed by a company which supplied and installed racks and walkways. He was engaged to manage an installation at a car spare parts warehouse, assisted by two employee labourers.
There were to be three levels of walkways - a concrete ground floor level and two steel upper floor levels accessible by stairs. The upper walkways were made of mesh panels screwed to a metal frame. The steps to the first floor had a sign in front of them saying "No Entry Unsafe Surface". The area in which work was being carried out was also cordoned off with yellow tape.
The Accused had instructed one of the labourers to unscrew one side of the steel mesh on the first level to allow the width of the walkway to be reduced. The screws that were removed had held the mesh panels to the frame of the walkway.
A Project Manager employed at the warehouse later asked the Accused if he could use the walkway. The Accused allowed him to do so, despite having previously instructed one of the labourers not to allow anyone access to the walkways whilst they were unsafe. Whilst standing on the first level of the walkway, the side of the panel which had been unscrewed collapsed and he fell 2.6m onto the concrete floor below, suffering serious injuries. At trial, the Accused pleaded guilty and was fined $2,500 plus costs.
It is not clear why he effectively went against his own advice in allowing access to the unsafe walkway but the case once again demonstrates the importance of developing and embedding a culture of safety awareness to avoid the consequences of carelessness or complacency in the workplace.
For any other information regarding this update or any other workplace risk matters, please contact Philip Brunner on (08) 9321 3755.
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