Wiley & Co. Pty Ltd

Incident description:

On 22 August 2007 a worker sustained serious injuries when he fell through an unsecured ceiling access hatch.

Wiley & Co. Pty Ltd (defendant) was the principal contractor on a construction project and the injured worker was a sub-contracted electrical installer.

The court found the defendant held obligations under s.28(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 being a person conducting a business or undertaking.

The investigation findings presented to the court alleged the incident occurred while the injured worker was inside the ceiling space above a loading dock preparing for installation of light fittings. An unmarked and unsecured sliding access hatch was located in the ceiling space. The injured worker stepped onto the hatch causing it to slide open under him. He fell approximately six metres to the floor below.

The investigation findings presented to the court revealed the defendant knew about the hatch in this area and failed to identify and control the risk of falling through it.

Court result:

The defendant pleaded guilty in the Brisbane Industrial Magistrates Court on 14 April 2009 to breaching s.24(1) of the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995, having failed to meet its workplace health and safety obligations.

Industrial Magistrate Ms Wendy Cull ordered the defendant pay a penalty of $37 500 as well as investigation, professional and court costs totaling $3 603.40.

In deciding the penalty imposed Industrial Magistrate Ms Wendy Cull took into account the defendant had not been prosecuted previously for any other workplace health and safety breaches, co-operated with the investigation and entered an early plea of guilty when ordering no conviction be recorded.

Considerations for prevention:

When working in the construction industry where there is exposure to risks from working at heights, obligation holders should apply a risk management approach to ensure the selection of suitable control measures.

Risk management involves identifying the hazards, evaluating the consequences and likelihood of harm that may result from the hazard, deciding on and implementing control measures to prevent or minimise the level of the risk from the hazard and monitoring the effectiveness of the control measures to ensure they remain working correctly.

When deciding on and implementing control measures associated with the risk of falling through ceiling access hatches, obligation holders should consider securing penetration covers over access hatches to prevent them from inadvertently moving and exposing the void underneath. Workers should be provided with information on the location of hatches and warning signs should be attached to notify workers of the hazard.

Visit the Workplace Health and Safety Queensland website for more information on:

• construction industry health and safety information
• building and construction guide (orange book)
• slips, trips and falls
• risk management
• Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995
• Risk Management Code of Practice 2007.