"The hazard to workers was foreseeable and easily remediated."

All government safety organizations are mandated to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. Here is a recent story where a government safety organization fined an aluminium company after a fatality.

A contractor worker fell through a manhole to his death while carrying out high-pressure cleaning of a tank in 2009.

The deceased worker was employed by a contracting company, which was contracted by an Australian aluminium company to carry out the cleaning. The contracting company has already been fined more than $120,000 Euro.

Deputy Chief Magistrate said she had taken into account the aluminium company’s plea of guilty, its good record and that it had put in place significant safety measures since the worker's death.

The court was told the incident could have been prevented if what were called "scaff bars" had been placed across manholes to stop workers from entering or falling through them.

The court heard there had been a previous similar safety incident involving the deceased worker three years prior but the hazard was not removed.

Deputy Chief Magistrate said the prosecution against aluminium company was "about site safety and the measures taken by aluminium company, and did not directly deal with the death of the worker".

However, Deputy Chief Magistrate said the aluminium company "should have appreciated this hazard".

"The aluminium company had the primary responsibility to protect workers and be proactive in their safety," Deputy Chief Magistrate said.

"The hazard to workers was foreseeable and easily remediated."

The aluminium company had been facing a maximum fine of $140,000 Euros. The aluminium company was also ordered to pay $3,500 Euros in court costs.

The Aluminium Plant Safety Blog offers our prayers for the deceased workers family, friends, and coworkers. Words cannot express the sadness, anger, confusion, etc. that results when a loved one is killed at work. That is why it is imperative that these incidents posted by the APSB never be reproduced.

The story mentioned that three years prior to the fatality the worker had a similar incident with an open manhole. The details surrounding that incident are unclear. Nevertheless that “near miss” was not properly addressed, because three years later the worker fell into a manhole and died. All “near misses” need to be reported and investigated properly.

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) describes a near miss as incidents where no property was damaged and no personal injury sustained, but where, given a slight shift in time or position, damage and/or injury easily could have occurred. More information from OSHA on near misses can be found here.

By the way has any of the readers heard of the term “scaff bars”?

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