Holding companies and employers accountable is a huge step towards reduced workplace tragedies.
The director of a shed company has become the first person to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment under WA’s workplace safety and health laws after a worker fell approximately nine meters from the apex of the roof, suffering fatal injuries. The charges included one of gross negligence against MT sheds, for which the company was fined $550,000.
WorkSafe WA Commissioner Darren Kavanagh said that culpability for a work-related death did not get much worse than in this case.1
“Mr Withers completely failed in every sense to provide a safe workplace for his employees, and as a consequence a young man lost his life and a family lost a loved one,” he said.
WAH Commissioner Darren Kavanagh went on to say “The State Government is committed to improving workplace safety laws, including ensuring that significant penalties are available to provide incentive to comply with these laws and ensure that community expectations are met.
“Even so, there are no winners in situations like these.”
It’s with great condolences to the family’s effected that it takes a tragedy like this for companies to start taking workplace safety more seriously. Does it always have to start with a tragedy before we realise the importance of workplace safety?
View your states Work Safe site to ensure your staying complaint.
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Act now and start implementing height safety systems to ensure you make it home at the end of each day
Reference: 1 Government of Western Australia, Department of Mines, Industry Regulations and Safety https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/announcements/first-imprisonment-under-was-workplace-safety-and-health-laws
