Company fined over contact with powerlines

Western Australian company, Buckby Contracting, was fined $5000 in the Perth Magistrates Court under WA’s Occupational Safety and Health Regulations after pleading guilty to failing to ensure that plant controlled by an employee did not enter the danger zone of an overhead powerline.

In 2007, the company was contracted to install sewerage and water services and perform sub-soil drainage works at a site in Maddington which was close to two sets of overhead powerlines.

The company consulted Western Power about isolating or insulating the powerlines so the work could be performed safely underneath them before commencing the work.

Due to the nature of the work and powerlines, the lines could not be isolated or insulated, and Western Power proposed alternative measures such as delineating safe work areas under the powerlines, providing spotters and using smaller equipment that would be unlikely to enter the danger zone.

An excavator operator began excavation and clearing works and when he slewed the excavator around, the boom struck the 22,000 kV powerlines, scorching the boom and cutting power to the surrounding area.

None of the measures agreed with Western Power to safeguard against entering the danger zone were in place at the time of the incident.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said,  “The incident in question was a very serious one and could have lead to far more serious consequences.

“The excavator operator could easily have lost his life through electrocution after entering the three-metre exclusion zone around the powerlines. The employer had done the right thing initially by contacting Western Power about isolating or insulating the powerlines, but the advice Western Power provided to the company was then ignored.

“This case once again illustrates the vital importance of taking every possible precaution when working with or near electricity. Over the past five years, 17 Western Australians have died as a result of electrocution, eight in workplaces and nine outside of workplaces.

“The excavator operator was extremely lucky to have escaped any serious injury in this incident. The case should serve as a reminder to anyone who has control of a workplace that they have a duty of care to ensure that the workplace is as safe as is practicable,” Lyhne said.