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The Australian authorities recently imposed a AUD 40,000 ($27,260) on a solar installation company after a worker fell 10 meters through an asbestos roof in the state of Victoria.
The workplace health and safety regulator in the Australian state of Victoria has said that Sams Solar Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Portland Magistrates’ Court earlier this month after pleading guilty to a single charge of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace. The company was fined AUD 40,000 and also ordered to pay AUD 6,026 in costs.
WorkSafe Victoria said Sams Solar had been 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 remove the asbestos roof at the three-storey building and provided the equipment to complete the job.
The regulator said workers were provided with harnesses and lifted on to the roof by a boom lift before attaching to an anchor point using ropes and were required to move around the rooftop via unsecured lengths of timber.
One of the worker’s harness ropes became tangled and as he unclipped to fix it, the roof surface below the timber he was walking on cracked and he fell through it.
He was airlifted to hospital with injuries, including a fractured wrist and severe bruising to his body.
“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,” said WorkSafe Executive Safety Director Sam Jenkin. “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.”
Jenkin said the man had been left with painful injuries in an incident that could have easily ended in tragedy.
WorkSafe said it was “reasonably practicable” for Sams Solar to ensure the asbestos removal work was performed from underneath the roof using a scissor lift.
And 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 450 mm wide and secured to the top of the roof. |
