WorkSafe WA said the company, Hanssen, pleaded guilty to two charges under the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations and was fined $20,000 on each charge in the Perth Magistrates Court last Friday.In July 2006, WorkSafe inspectors attended a construction site in East Perth in response to a report that a tilt-up panel had collapsed at the site.WorkSafe said that in the process of issuing prohibition notices to the site manager, the inspectors discovered that two workers had not completed an approved tilt-up safety course for the aspect of work in which they were involved.When the inspectors returned to the site three days later, they found one of the workers had still not completed an approved tilt-up safety course but continued to perform tilt-up work.Inspectors again visited the site a week after the initial visit and found a third worker performing tilt-up work without having completed an approved tilt-up safety course.“Tilt-up construction is high-risk work and the regulations are there to ensure that the risks are avoided, or at least kept to a minimum,” WorkSafe WA commissioner Nina Lyhne said.“The employer persisted in allowing workers without proper training to work in an activity in which training is absolutely vital to working safely,” she said.“We have seen the tragic consequences of not sticking strictly to the laws where tilt-up construction is concerned, and everyone involved in the industry needs to ensure that safety is the top priority onsite.”
