Woodlands Hill Fabrication Pty Ltd and Bartyn Dall both pleaded guilty in the South Australia Employment Tribunal (SAET) for breaches of their duties under section 32 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA).

In October 2018, a worker of Woodlands Hill Fabrication received serious life changing injuries, including the loss of both legs, as a consequence of electricity arcing across to the elevating work platform (EWP) that he was working on.

The worker was in the process of lubricating the platform of the EWP when the platform was raised underneath an active overhead power line by Bartyn Dall, who was operating the EWP at the time.

SafeWork SA’s investigation found that:

• no risk assessment had been carried out prior to commencing the task
• there were no safe systems of work
• there were no safety procedures
• the worker had not received adequate information, instructions and training in the use of the EWP.

Simple and inexpensive measures were available to conduct the work safely. These included:

• working away from live powerlines
• cordoning off the hazardous area around the powerlines
• assessing the hazards in and around the work area
• providing workers with adequate information, instruction and training.

If work needs to be undertaken close to powerlines, arrangements should be made to deactivate the power from the line prior to commencing work.

The SAET convicted Woodlands Hill Fabrication Pty Ltd but did not issue a pecuniary fine noting the business is no longer trading and has no assets.

A conviction was also recorded against Bartyn Dall the sole director and operator of Woodlands Hill Fabrication Pty Ltd. Mr Dall was ordered to pay a fine of $40,000, which wasreduced to $28,000 following an early guilty plea.

SafeWork SA Executive Director, Mr Martyn Campbell said, “this conviction should act as a warning to all employers and directors that electrical risks must be properly managed. Employers and workers need to be particularly vigilant when working around any power sources, in particular powerlines that are clearly visible.

This incident demonstrates how an employer’s failure to identify hazards and impose even the simplest control measures can pose a serious risk of injury and harm to others. The life changing injuries that the worker sustained could have been easily avoided, had adequate risk management been applied”.