A concrete manufacturing company has been fined $580,000 (and ordered to pay $6180 in costs) after a worker was seriously injured at its Neerabup concrete batching plant.
Ransberg Pty Ltd – trading as WA Premix – pleaded guilty to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing serious harm to a worker, and was fined in the Joondalup Magistrates Court last week.
In December 2020, a worker at the plant suffered serious harm when a large waste pit gate fell onto him.
Waste products from the concrete mixing process are deposited into waste pits that are regularly drained and emptied.
These steel and concrete waste pits are four-walled boxes three metres wide by one point five metres high with a removable front wall weighing around two tonnes known as the waste pit gate.
The waste pit gate is held in place by four wedge pins that lock into fittings on the side wall of the pit. These pins were knocked out with a mallet once the gate was secured by a lifting chain attached to a raised front-end loader bucket.
The pit gate was then lifted by the front-end loader and stored safely beside the waste pits.
The emptying of the waste pits was considered to be a two-person job, but it was done by one person if no other workers were available.
On the morning of this incident, the injured worker knocked out three of the four wedge pins and went to retrieve the lifting chain. He could not find the chain and returned to the waste pit gate and knocked out the remaining wedge pin.
The gate then fell forward, hitting the worker first in the chest then continuing forward to strike his left leg above the knee, then his shin and ankle. He suffered multiple open fractures and other injuries that ultimately resulted in the amputation of his left leg below the knee.
There was no supporting mechanism in place to prevent the gate from falling if the lifting chains were not attached to the front-end loader bucket.
Ransberg did have other batching plants, and at another batching plant the waste pit gate was supported by a ‘c channel’. This method of supporting the waste pit gate was known to Ransberg at the time of this incident.
WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said today the incident had been entirely preventable if a comprehensive risk assessment had been performed at the workplace.
“Any risk assessment undertaken at this plant did not include the risk of the gate falling onto a worker, and also the risks present when just one worker performed this task,” Ms North said.
“At the time of this incident, there was no supporting mechanism in place to prevent the gate from falling if it wasn’t attached to the lifting chains. After the incident two simple supporting blocks were welded to the front of the gate to hold it in place when the pins are removed.
“Further improvements have since been made that eliminate the need for lifting chains and a front-end loader, with forklift lifting pockets now added to the gates.
“In addition, a more comprehensive safe work procedure was created which requires that two people complete the task of emptying the waste pits.
“The injured worker, along with the rest of the workers at the plant, had not received any formal training in emptying the waste bins. All relevant personnel have now undergone training in the relevant safe work practices.
“If these actions had been taken sooner, the injured worker would have been spared the life-changing injury he suffered.
“This case is a reminder of the crucial importance of assessing every risk in a workplace in consultation with workers and putting into place safe work procedures that workers are trained in and are using.
“WorkSafe has investigated or is currently investigating several incidents involving large gates and other similar barriers, including a tragic fatality that occurred in Welshpool only a matter of days ago.”
Source: WA Government
