The McGowan Government has released exposure drafts of regulations under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 ahead of the commencement of major work health and safety (WHS) reforms in March 2022. Releasing the exposure drafts of the supporting regulations provides all participants in Western Australian workplaces the opportunity to prepare themselves to meet the requirements of the new Act and to...

An exploration drilling company has been fined $256,000 (and ordered to pay $2363.50 in costs) over an incident in which a contractor died after being struck by a large “stillson” wrench. The stillson – otherwise known as a pipe wrench – had been attached to a drill rig that was being operated under hydraulic power. Orbit Drilling Pty Ltd pleaded guilty as a principal that engaged a contractor to...

A construction company has been fined $320,000 (and ordered to pay $22,212.45 in costs) over an incident in 2017 in which a young worker fell to his death. 17-year-old Wesley Ballantine died after he fell through a void in the roof of an internal atrium at the old GPO building during the construction of the H&M store in Forrest Place, Perth. Industrial Construction Services Pty Ltd (ICS) was...

A site supervisor at a land development company has been fined $10,000 (and ordered to pay $1172.50 in costs) over an incident in 2018 in which a worker was seriously injured when limestone blocks from an adjacent retaining wall and a steel plate fell on him. Glenn Edwin Rush pleaded guilty to failing as an employee to take reasonable care to avoid adversely affecting the health of another person...

The WorkSafe Western Australia Commissioner has moved to reassure senior leaders that volunteer firefighters will not be adversely affected by the incoming new workplace safety laws. WorkSafe WA Commissioner Darren Kavanagh met with senior leaders from WAFarmers, Pastoralists and Graziers Association, Department of Fire and Emergency Services, the Association of Volunteer Bush Fire Brigades and...

WorkSafe is undertaking a proactive inspection program to look at workplace safety and health issues in takeaway food outlets. The program will involve inspectors visiting fast food outlets in Perth and regional areas of the State throughout the 2021/22 financial year. WorkSafe Acting Director Carla van Ijzendoorn said today the inspection program had been prompted by continued significant...

WA’s Commission for Occupational Safety and Health is seeking public comment on a code of practice on Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace. The code is intended to provide practical guidance for workplaces where workers may be exposed to psychological and social hazards such as inappropriate behaviours, violence and aggression, fatigue, burnout, stress and trauma, all of which can be harmful to...

WorkSafe has commenced prosecution action against a subcontractor over serious injuries suffered by a worker on the Forrestfield Airport Link Project in July 2018. Salini Australia Pty Ltd has been charged with failing to provide and maintain a safe working environment and, by that failure, causing serious harm to an employee. On the afternoon of July 7, 2018, three Salini employees were engaged...

The director of a shed building company has become the first person to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment under WA’s workplace safety and health laws. Director of MT Sheds (WA) Pty Ltd - Mark Thomas Withers - was yesterday sentenced in the Esperance Magistrates Court to two years and two months’ imprisonment following the 2020 death of a young worker and the serious injury of another. He is...

Building company Gran Designs WA Pty Ltd has been fined a total of $175,000 over the 2017 death of a contract worker in the South-West town of Yarloop. The company pleaded guilty in the Bunbury Magistrates Court yesterday to five charges, the most serious of which was failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing the death of the worker. On this charge the company...

WorkSafe has commenced prosecution action against a shed building company and its director over the fall death of a worker and the serious injury of another worker in March 2020. MT Sheds (WA) Pty Ltd and company director Mark Thomas Withers face a total of seven separate charges including charges in relation to the death of Jake Williams and serious injuries to Fraser Pinchin last year. The...