Fine over fall from heights risk after several prohibition notices

A Western Australian tyre company and one of the company’s directors have received $70,000 in fines after appearing in court and pleading guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe work environment.

Vannevar Pty Ltd, trading as Townsend International Tyres, pleaded guilty to the charge, while the company’s director, Morrie Bursztyn, was charged separately, based on the offending of the company occurred with his consent or connivance. He also pleaded guilty.

The charges relate to an incident in 2017. At the time, when tyres were received to the site, they were stored in a rack system, with the top rack more than three and a half metres above the ground. For workers to retrieve tyres, they were required to stand on the tines or pallet on a forklift, driven by a co-worker.

A complaint was received by WorkSafe in January of that year, and a workplace inspector attended the site, issuing a prohibition notice to prevent workers from using the forklift method. Mr Bursztyn did not display the notice as required, but rather filed it and did not tell employees.

A subsequent complaint was made in May of the same year, and a workplace inspector interviewed several employees who advised the inspector that the method had not changed. A new prohibition notice was issued.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Darren Kavanagh explained that the fine should serve as a warning that prohibition notices must be taken seriously, complied with, and properly displayed in the workplace.

“A prohibition notice requires an employer to cease a hazardous work practice and not restart work until a safe procedure has been put into place – and employees must be informed of this by display of the notice,” Mr Kavanagh said.

“Mr Bursztyn not only chose to ignore the direction he had been given but played an active role in directing employees to perform work unsafely.

“Despite his actual knowledge of the fall hazard and WorkSafe expressly prohibiting the unsafe system of work, Mr Bursztyn continued requiring the hazardous work to be done.

“It’s fortunate that no worker had a fall in this workplace and good to know that WorkSafe’s intervention at the workplace may have prevented a death or serious injury.

“After receiving the second prohibition notice, the company ceased its practice of working from the tines of a forklift, removed the third level of racking, reducing the rack height from 3.71 metres to 1.8 metres, and purchased a portable platform to access the second level. These measures were low cost and easy to implement.

“An alternative measure would have been to use a man cage on the forklift tines, which would have cost the company around $1,000 and allowed workers to be safely lifted.

“Falls from height are a major concern at WA workplaces, and are a priority area for WorkSafe. A Code of Practice has been in use since 2004, providing practical advice on the safe systems of work that should be in place where the risk of falls exists.”