News & Views

OHS Alert has recently reported that an employer has been fined for failing to ensure a safe work method statement addressed a fatality causing task – the performance of which was "at the outer level of foreseeability" by the employer.

Victorian County Court Judge Christopher Ryan fined CLM Infrastructure Pty Ltd just $50,000, without conviction, after finding that the likelihood of a death or serious injury resulting from the task had been "low", and there was no evidence the employer disregarded the safety of workers.

CLM had been engaged to drill under a road to facilitate the connection of a new water main to a building site.

The process involved lowering a bed borer into a specially dug pit, chocking and staking it in place to prevent it moving under torque, and manually attaching rods to the spindle.

Workers then removed rods, where necessary, using a "breakout" tool attached to the front of the machine.

In September 2013, two CLM employees found that the breakout tool couldn't grip and "break" one of the rods, and a supervisor advised them, via telephone, to use stilsons instead of the breakout tool.

The workers then decided to use a crane to lift the bed borer out of the pit before attaching a stilson to the rod, and the unchocked machine subsequently pivoted under the crane, striking one of the workers and causing him to fall and sustain fatal head injuries.

CLM was charged and pleaded guilty to breaching s21(1) and (2)(e) of the Victorian OHS Act, in failing to provide employees with adequate safety information, instruction or training.

Judge Ryan found the employer's system of work required the breakout process to occur while the bed borer was staked and chocked in a pit.

He found the process adopted by the two workers was "contrary" to this system, and there was no evidence of conduct of this kind occurring previously. "The [employer's] breach arises out of the fact that neither the safe work method statement nor the operating manual for the bed borer relevant to the performance of boring work at the site addressed specific safety measures or risks associated with the use of stilsons on the bed borer to perform the breakout process when the machine was out of the trench," he said. DPP v CLM Infrastructure Pty Ltd [2017] VCC 192 (3 March 2017)

Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS) help prevent injuries and illness occurring by outlining a safe method of work for each step within a specific job. A SWMS also provides an induction document that workers must read and understand before starting work and will assist in meeting your legal responsibilities for the risk management process, hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control.

Directional Drilling is a dangerous activity that requires a SWMS. NECA provides pre-written Directional Drilling SWMS that can be instantly downloaded from our new online shop. Click here for further information.

(Source OHS Alert www.ohsalert.com.au)