An employee of Cormack Plumbing Pty Ltd had their arm and throat pinned between an Elevated Work Platform (EWP) railing and fire service piping despite the company being alerted in the previous weeks to the crushing risks arising from the use of EWPs.
Cormack Plumbing was engaged by Texco Construction to perform plumbing work in the construction of an industrial warehouse at Melbourne Airport. In June 2023 an EWP equipped with pipe racks was delivered to the site for use – the EWP did not have secondary guarding fitted.
That day Texco, the principal contractor of the project, held a Toolbox meeting to discuss new EWP induction processes, the crush hazards presented by operating an EWP a short distance from the ceiling (as required for the pipe installation task), and the need for secondary guarding and safety observers when operating in those conditions. They also discussed the need for the EWP on site to be swapped out or retrofitted with secondary guarding by 3 July 2023 to enable the plumbing task to proceed.
The secondary guarding had not been fitted when the Cormack Plumbing employee was directed to install a vertical galvanised steel pipe as part of fire service piping installation – a task that was performed at a height of approximately eight metres. The safety observer, also employed by Cormack Plumbing, walked 20 metres away from the work site to answer a phone call without informing the employee in the EWP.
Whilst moving the EWP upward and close to the ceiling the employee pinned his right underarm and his throat between the top rail of the EWP basket and one of the previously installed horizontal pipes. The EWP controls cut out and the IP could not lower it. The rail pressing on the employee’s throat was causing breathing difficulties and he was unable to call for help.
Fortunately, a Texco employee saw the Cormack Plumbing employee’s distress and was able to lower the EWP using the emergency ground controls. The injured employee suffered a fractured clavicle.
Cormack Plumbing acknowledged that they were aware the EWP did not have secondary guarding fitted and that the Safe Work Method Statement prepared for the task was inadequate and that they should have required the safety observer to maintain visual contact with the EWP operator for the full duration of the task.
For their breach of s.21(1) of the OHS Act – failure to provide a safe system of work – Cormack Plumbing were fined $25,000 without conviction.
Read more: Prosecution Result Summaries and Enforceable Undertakings | WorkSafe Victoria
