Friday 30th April 2021

Elevating work platform safety standards raised. 

New industry standards for elevating work platforms (EWP) have been set by WorkSafe, providing practical safety advice to employers and operators to prevent further deaths and serious injuries.

The new standard has been developed in consultation with Foundation for Safety Victoria. It covers EWP training and licensing requirements, ensuring they are maintained properly and inspected for use, and who has to ensure the health and safety of workers. It is a comprehensive guide to cover the most important safety issues for using EWP’, including the different types of EWP available and choosing the most suitable EWP for the job being undertaken.

In the past ten years, ten workers have died in EWP incidents, three in the past two years, making them one of the deadliest hazards in Victorian workplaces.

WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Julie Nielsen said, ‘EWPs are a commonly used equipment for working from height; however, they have unique risks with serious consequences when something goes wrong,

‘Every employer should take the time to understand the new standard, check their systems of work, ensure they are selecting the right equipment and doing everything they can to operate safely.’

The full article can be found on the WorkSafe Victoria website.

Transport company fined $5000 for unreported workplace injury. 

A small transport business has pleaded guilty in Toowoomba’s Magistrate court to failing in its duty to report a notifiable incident, breaching the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

On 8 March 2018, two employee’s of the company that specialised in the transportation of livestock were transporting a broken-down truck on the tray of a tilt truck to be repaired at a site in Wacol. One of the employees was hospitalised after he fell from the tray of the stationery tilt truck. He hit his head and spent seven days as an inpatient for treatment of a fractured skull.

Although the company knew of the accident the day it happened, it wasn’t until the injured worker contacted Workplace Health and Safety Queensland on 18 June 2019 that the incident came to the attention of the regulator.

Magistrate Kay Ryan took into account the company’s early guilty plea and the fact that the injured worker was back working, albeit in a limited capacity, but noted that ignorance of the law was not an excuse.

The company was fined $5000 and ordered costs of $1100, with no conviction recorded.

The full article can be found on the WorkSafe Qld website.