Caloundra City Council

Incident description :

Four workers were involved in cleaning a water reservoir. Prior to the incident, the internal ladder had been removed because of corrosion. The workers therefore decided to use an external ladder by pulling it on to the top of the reservoir and lowering it on a rope into the tank. Two workers leaned the ladder against the inside wall of the reservoir and tied a loop in the rope from the davit arm to use as a handle to steady themselves as they entered and exited the tank by stepping from the tank top to the ladder and vice versa. As one of the workers was climbing up and was in the process of getting from the ladder to the reservoir top, he fell, shattering both his heels. The worker was also at risk of drowning as the water had reached a depth of about knee-level. Emergency services were unable to rescue the worker for about five hours during which the worker had to be supported by his supervisor to keep his head above water.

Investigation findings:

When the internal ladder to the reservoir was removed, the council failed to identify and control the hazards of working at height, to enter and exit a confined space and the risk of asphyxiation and drowning while working in a confined space.

Considerations for prevention:

After the incident, the council introduced the following changes:

• only scuba divers can now be engaged to clean reservoirs
• all reservoirs are to be registered as confined spaces and any required entry must be in accordance with the regulation
• all reservoirs are to have an internal ladder installed and maintained.

Obligation holders should consider section 145 of the Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 1997 which outlines obligations of 'using a confined space'. The company should also consider the Plant Code of Practice 2005, in particular part 5.1 Risk Management and part 5.14 Maintenance, Servicing and Cleaning.

Court result:

Caloundra City Council was found guilty and fined $35,000 with no conviction recorded.

• Risk management: The 5 step process
• Construction industry sprains and strains prevention fact sheet (PDF, 152kB)