One of the central contractors involved in completing Perth’s new Forrestfield-Airport Link Project train line has been fined $150,000 in court for failing to provide a safe workplace. The fine relates to an incident in 2017 which saw a worker suffer electrical burns to almost 40% of his body. Salina Australia Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to the charge.
The incident occurred in October of 2017, when a rigger working on the project was holding a pole being moved by a crane. The pole came into contact or made close contact to 132,000 volt overhead powerlines.
During the life of the project so far, joint venture partners have reported four of ten lost-time injuries between March of 2017 and last financial year.
Darren Kavanagh, the WA WorkSafe Commissioner explained at the site, on the day of the electrical burns incident, there was no safe system of work in place.
“Soon after this incident, Salini adopted some simple procedures including erecting warning signs and visual flagging indicators, enforcing a minimum approach distance to power lines of six metres and physical relocation of the overhead power lines,” he said.
“However this was all too late for the worker who was seriously injured in this incident and who will live with the physical and mental consequences of his injuries for a long time.”
According to the opposition transport spokeswoman, Libby Mettam, the project has been mismanaged by the current government.
“Ensuring the safety of workers on state government projects should be the first priority of the government and while I welcome the prosecution of the contractor involved in this case, I question whether the fine will lead to any long-term changes,” she said.
“The seemingly lax safety culture on this project has resulted in a string of incidents and multiple safety breaches over many years and it appears that the McGowan government isn’t taking it seriously. While the McGowan government may claim it is a contractor issue, the reality is the buck stops with them and change must come from the top. In at least one of these cases, the worker has been unable to return to work for more than a year and is yet to receive any compensation, claiming he feels abandoned by the state government.”
A spokeswoman for the West Australian government says they inherited the contract from the previous government and were working to ensure that safety was the number one priority on the project.
“We have worked as much as possible within the contract to improve safety on the Forrestfield- Airport Link Project,” she said. “We have encouraged and facilitated meetings with WorkSafe and had them visit the site on multiple occasions while also increasing the number of surveillance workers from one to three to ensure there is 24-7 coverage.
“An additional 24 full-time equivalent staff, including 21 additional inspectors, have been employed by WorkSafe.”