Andrew and Nicola Forrest's marine maintenance company has been fined $340,000 after a worker was injured at a Henderson marine yard.
SFM Marine, part of Forrest's Tatarang empire, pleaded guilty in December 2020 to failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace over an incident in which an employee fell down a ladder while working on a boat in Henderson.
WorkSafe released a statement today announcing that SFM Marine had been fined in the Fremantle Magistrates Court earlier this month.
WorkSafe said SFM was fined $340,000 and ordered to pay more than $8,500 in restitution.
Tatarang acquired Northport Marine Services and rebranded it to SFM Marine in June 2020.
Marine maintenance company operating out of North Fremantle and Henderson, providing lifting, hauling and launch services for recreational vessels.
In December 2020, a worker who was contracted to install handrails on a boat fell from the top of a set of stairs, landing on bitumen and breaking both ankles, WorkSafe said in its statement.
Access to the boat was via a set of stairs, which were placed on rigid stands in the marine yard.
However, when the worker leaned on him, the railing on the stairs became loose and he fell about 2.5 metres.
WorkSafe said the worker experienced persistent pain and disruption in his activities due to his injuries.
When SFM Marine took over control of the Henderson Marine yard, it acquired sets of aluminum and steel ladders, which were visually inspected to identify them as safe to use.
According to WorkSafe, there was no formal process for routine inspection and maintenance of the ladders and the yard manager only performed a visual inspection while placing the ladders next to the boat.
“Their visual assessment concluded that the handrail was intact as it was sitting where it should be,” WorkSafe said.
“Prior to this incident, the yard manager had expressed concerns to a safety consultant that the stairs were non-rated and were missing handrails, but the consultant's comments and recommendations were not received by SFM at the time of this incident.”
The SFM had a policy requiring visitors to sign in and complete an induction form, but this was not consistently enforced and the injured person was not instructed to complete one.
WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said the incident demonstrated the need for formal processes to ensure regular inspections, maintenance and upkeep of equipment.
“In this case, the company relied on a simple visual inspection of the stair handrail,” she said.
“A safety consultant observed broken welds on at least one staircase, something that could have also been seen by the company if it had examined the stairs closely.
“However, SFM did not have any formal process in place to ensure that the stairs were closely inspected on a regular basis.”
Ms North said anyone running a business is advised to carry out a thorough risk assessment of the workplace and put controls in place to reduce the risk of injury to workers.
“This also includes the risk of falling from height due to equipment failure,” he said.
“The company had a safety management plan which included a system for managing the risks associated with working at height, but apparently it did not include regular checks that the set of stairs was safe to use.
“Conducting a risk assessment and creating a security management plan is not enough if that plan is not strictly followed, as this fine demonstrates.”
Tatarang was contacted for comment.
