Electrical Masters Pty Ltd is a solar installation company that was engaged by Solar Worx Pty Ltd to install solar panels on a commercial property in Clyde North. In September 2024 a member of the public reported to WorkSafe that people were working at height at the site without fall protection.
When a WorkSafe Inspector attended the site, he observed that there was a large Elevated Work Platform (EWP) in a raised position against the exterior factory wall. The EWP only had handrails on two sides, and none of the observed workers were wearing harnesses or any other form of fall restraint. Three people were in the EWP and two people were on the roof of the factory and there was no guard rail on the building edge. The Inspector instructed the workers to descend from the roof, and they advised that although no supervisor was on site, they had a safe work method statement (SWMS).
During the Inspector’s visit a man returned to the site and identified himself as the director of a different, and deregistered, company Aahana Thakur. The director stated that the company undertaking the work was Solar King and there ensued some confusion about why the company vehicles were marked with the name Electrical Masters, a different name to the company identified by the director. The director went on to assert that the EWP would no longer be required, that the work on the roof was complete.
As the fall from height risk was effectively remedied the Inspector did not issue any notices in relation to the failure to provide fall protection on the roof edge or on the EWP, but he did issue an Improvement Notice for failing to review the SWMS to reflect the hazards presented by using the EWP without handrails.
Electrical Masters did not present to court and the case proceeded ex parte. The Court found that Electrical Masters had failed to control the risk of a fall from heights from the EWP and had failed to ensure the provision of safe access and egress between the roof and the EWP. The risk of severe injury and death from working at height unprotected is clear, well-known and serious. The Court found Electrical Masters guilty and sentence without conviction to a fine of $30,000.
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