WAM Homes Pty Ltd and Wanjia Metal Works Pty Ltd were sentenced in the Dandenong Magistrates' Court on Friday 19 September after pleading guilty to seven charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and Regulations.
WAM Homes, the principal contractor of both construction projects, was convicted and fined an aggregate $45,000 for four charges of failing to ensure a workplace under its management and control was safe and without risks to health, and $2,500 for one charge of failing to ensure construction work was performed by someone with a current construction induction card.
Wanjia, which was subcontracted by WAM Homes for the Noble Park project, was fined $15,000 without conviction for failing to reduce fall risks by using a passive fall prevention device, and $2,500 without conviction for failing to ensure construction work was performed by someone with a current construction induction card.
The companies were also ordered to each pay $3,266 in costs.
The court heard that in July 2023, WorkSafe inspectors revisited a worksite in Boronia where they had previously issued WAM Homes a prohibition notice for fall risks. During the visit, inspectors observed multiple workers on the balcony of a townhouse with no perimeter guard rails or scaffolding installed. The distance between the unprotected balcony edge and the ground below was about three metres.
In April 2024, inspectors attended a worksite in Noble Park, where WAM Homes had contracted Wanjia to supply and install structural steel. One worker was observed standing on an A-frame ladder on the upper floor of a townhouse near an unprotected edge more than three metres from the ground, and another worker was at the base of the ladder with his back to the live edge. No fall protection devices or guard rails were in place.
One of the workers did not have a construction induction card, which is required to access and perform work on construction sites.
The court found it was reasonably practicable for WAM Homes to have reduced the risk of serious injury or death by:
- installing suitable perimeter guard railing or balustrades around the balcony of the Boronia townhouse;
- installing suitable perimeter guard railing around the upper floor of the Noble Park townhouse and ensuring a securely fixed ladder was used to access that floor;
- preparing a health and safety coordination plan for the Noble Park project; and
- ensuring work performed at the Noble Park worksite, including work performed by contractor Wanjia, was only completed by workers with a construction induction card.
Wanjia admitted it was reasonably practicable to have reduced the risk of serious injury or death at the Noble Park worksite by:
- installing suitable perimeter guard railing around the upper floor of the townhouse; and
- ensuring work performed was only completed by workers with a construction induction card.
The court heard WAM Homes had a history of workplace health and safety offending and was previously fined $15,000 without conviction over the fall risks identified in WorkSafe's original visit to the Boronia worksite in 2022. Additionally, WorkSafe issued the company with 11 improvement notices relating to working at height between December 2021 and July 2022.
WorkSafe Chief Health and Safety Officer Sam Jenkin said WorkSafe had no tolerance for employers who repeatedly ignored fall risks.
"Seeing a company who has previously faced enforcement action and been made aware of its safety failures show the same careless attitude over and over is simply inexcusable," Mr Jenkin said.
"Fall prevention measures aren't a box ticking exercise to satisfy WorkSafe after a visit - they are often the difference between life and death, and employers who don't bother implementing them are not only breaking the law but showing a complete disregard for the safety of their workers."
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.
