Adelaide Brighton Cement Ltd is spending almost $1 million on safety measures to avoid prosecution after a worker fell from a platform and was seriously injured. The safety measures include piloting a drone program to prevent fall-from-height incidents.
SafeWork SA, the regulator, accepted the significant financial commitment as a preferred enforcement option over prosecution.
In May 2021, a worker at the company’s Klein Point Quarry fell off an elevated fixed platform while replacing bolts during a maintenance shutdown, landing on the concrete ground four metres below.
The injured worker sustained a traumatic brain injury, fractured skull, several broken vertebrae, hearing loss and post-trauma amnesia.
The two top railings of the fixed platform had been removed during the reassembly phase of the maintenance project, creating a live edge.
Adelaide Brighton has committed a minimum of $876,545 to enforceable undertakings, including:
- $25,000 for installing cameras across operations to reduce worker access to heights, improve supervision, and mitigate isolated work risks
- Piloting remote technology like drones as part of the camera program to eliminate fall-from-height risks
- Allocating $100,000 for a specialized rock breaker to aid the injured worker's return, compatible with his hearing loss
- Allocating $150,000 to redesign the crusher for safer top access through remote doors
- Investing $110,000 in an additional site supervisor for Klein Point, primarily focused on WHS responsibilities to enhance inspections and safety leadership
- Critical risk control audits at all sites, costing $79,000
- Replace A-frame ladders with safer platform ladders at a cost of $139,000