Published: 17 September 2024
Sams Solar Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Portland Magistrates' Court on Tuesday 10 September after pleading guilty to a single charge of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace.
The company was also ordered to pay $6,026 in costs.
Sams Solar was contracted to remove asbestos sheeting then install a new roof and solar system at a Portland self-storage warehouse in April 2023.
The court heard the company engaged sub-contractors to carry out the asbestos removal at the three-storey building and provided equipment to complete the work.
Workers were provided with a harness and lifted on to the roof by a boom lift before attaching to an anchor point using ropes, rather than retractable or inertia lanyards, and traversing the roof via unsecured lengths of timber.
One of the worker's harness ropes became tangled and as he unclipped to fix it, the brittle roof surface below the timber he was walking on cracked and he fell through it.
The worker was airlifted to hospital suffering a fractured wrist and severe bruising to his body.
It was reasonably practicable for Sams Solar to ensure the asbestos removal work was performed from underneath the roof using a scissor lift. If the work was to be done from the rooftop, the company should have ensured there was safety mesh or a catch platform installed under the asbestos sheeting and that temporary access walkways were at least 450mm wide and secured to the top of the roof.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said a worker had been left with painful injuries in an incident that could have easily ended in tragedy.
"Falls from height remain one of the biggest killers on Victorian worksites and it is frustrating to see employers continue to put workers in situations where they are at serious risk of harm," Mr Jenkin said.
"As highlighted in this case, safety harnesses come with their own hazards and should only be considered in instances where greater risk control measures cannot be used."
To prevent falls from height employers should implement the highest possible measures from the five levels in the hierarchy of controls:
- Level 1 Eliminate the risk by, where practicable, doing all or some of the work on the ground or from a solid construction.
- Level 2 Use a passive fall prevention device such as scaffolds, perimeter screens, guardrails, safety mesh or elevating work platforms.
- Level 3 Use a positioning system, such as a travel-restraint system, to ensure employees work within a safe area.
- Level 4 Use a fall arrest system, such as a harness, catch platform or safety nets, to limit the risk of injuries in the event of a fall.
- Level 5 Use a fixed or portable ladder, or implement administrative controls.
When undertaking High Risk Construction Work (HRCW), duty holders must:
- Ensure HRCW is not performed unless a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) is prepared.
- Ensure that once a SWMS has been developed, all HRCW work is undertaken in accordance with that SWMS.
- Stop work immediately, or as soon as it is safe to do so, once they become aware a SWMS is not being followed.
- Review the SWMS whenever there is a change in the work being undertaken or if there is an indication that control measures are not adequate.
- A copy of the SWMS must be retained for the duration of any HRCW.