Cabinet-making campaign in WA reveals areas of concern

Over a 12-month period, WorkSafe WA inspected 95 furniture-making businesses to identify any common safety risks and to provide information to employers on how to comply with OHS requirements.

WorkSafe Acting Executive Director Joe Attard said the campaign confirmed some common risks to safety in the cabinet-making industry that needed to be addressed:

“The manufacturing industry - under which the cabinet-making sector falls - has the highest number of lost-time injuries of all WA industries.

“More than 3600 people employed in the WA manufacturing industry are injured each year seriously enough to have to take time off work, so there is room for considerable improvement in the industry.

“During the course of this campaign, inspectors issued a total of 295 improvement notices and four prohibition notices in the course of the 95 inspections, and three major areas of concern emerged.

“The greatest number of notices (94) was issued for breaches pertaining to the storage, labelling and use of hazardous substances. Cabinet-making workplaces would usually have a range of substances such as glues, stripping agents, varnishes and so on, all of which need to be stored, labelled and used in a safe manner to avoid injury and illness.

“Some 28 notices were issued for matters relating to the lockout and tagging of machinery and tools. It’s important to have safe systems of work for lockout and tagging, especially when cleaning and maintenance activities are taking place.

“A further 26 notices were issued relating to the guarding of machinery. These workplaces contain machinery with hazardous moving parts - saws and other cutting equipment in particular - and it’s crucial that they are safely guarded.

“Another issue this campaign looked at closely was the safe stacking of timber sheets in cabinet-making workplaces. A worker was crushed to death in 2008 when a stack of veneered chipboard sheets toppled onto him, this tragic event providing the incentive for this campaign.

“Several notices were issued on this hazard during the campaign, and employers were directed to introduce safe-work practices for the storage and handling of timber sheets, including providing racks where practicable.”

Apart from the areas already mentioned, the campaign looked at issues such as electrical equipment and RCDs, manual handling and the instruction, training and supervision of workers.