WA flooring company fined over lack of fall protection

Western Australian flooring company Getts Pty Ltd was fined $4000 in the Rockingham Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to failing to provide edge protection on a building site after a subcontractor fell 2.4 m through an unprotected stairwell void.

In 2007, a private residence was under construction in Rockingham, and building company Generation Homes (WA) had engaged Getts to lay a wooden floor on the second storey of the house.

A subcontactor to Getts went to the second storey via an internal stairwell that had no edge protection at the top. A painter was also working on the second storey at the time.

While the man was in the process of laying the wooden flooring near the unprotected edge of the stairwell, he fell from the edge to the ground floor below, cracking his pelvis and fracturing a vertebra.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne commented: “It’s really disappointing to see a lack of fall protection in workplaces because falls are readily preventable and it need not be difficult or costly to ensure that suitable barriers or fall-arrest systems are organised before a tragedy can occur.

“Falls are one of the most significant causes of workplace death in the construction industry, and 10 Western Australian workers have died in less than three years as a result of falls. A further 1295 are injured each year, many seriously and permanently.

“Edge protection had earlier been used around the stairwell, but it had been removed to make it easier to install the wooden flooring. It would have been practicable to have used another method of fall protection that would not have interfered with the work being performed. As it was, the unprotected void was a disaster waiting to happen, and unfortunately it did.

“Plenty of information is readily available on the prevention of falls, and I would expect any company involved in construction to be acutely aware of the need to prevent falls.

“This case also demonstrates the fact that safety is the responsibility of anyone who has the ability to influence the work done. The building company has already been prosecuted over this incident, and Getts was also considered responsible because the company had the capacity to limit the access of workers to the hazardous area.

“A code of practice on fall prevention has existed in WA for the past 19 years, with the original code being initiated in response to the number of fatalities being recorded in the construction industry at that time. The current code is comprehensive - providing information on the identification of common fall hazards and the use of fall arrest equipment - and I urge all employers with workplaces that may contain fall hazards to ensure copies of the code are readily available at their workplaces.”