An electrical contractor has copped a $10,000 fine after a worker suffered an electric shock and was thrown backwards while working on a drilling rig in Eneabba.
The drilling contractor received the electric shock when a drilling rig mast came into contact with high voltage power lines on a site in the State's north in May 2006.
Earlier this week, Jeremy Paul Blakiston Fowler (who was then trading as Electro Power Services) was fined in the Perth Magistrate's Court after he pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the workplace was safe.
In May 2006, Western Power had contacted Outback Power Services to perform works and build a voltage regulator at Eneabba.
Electro Power Services had then been contracted by Outback Power to supervise drilling works to be performed by a drilling contractor.
On May 17, Mr Fowler and the drilling contractor were engaged in drilling holes with a drilling rig underneath power lines.
The position in which the drilling contractor chose to place the rig required him to raise the mast very close to the power lines.
In repositioning the rig, the left-hand outrigger was raised and the mast tilted towards the power lines.
The then mast touched the power lines and the drilling contractor received an electric shock and was thrown backwards from the drilling rig.
The court was told that no formal pre-start meeting had been held before the work started, and that the drilling contractor was not given any directions for the work - with the exception of where the holes were required to be placed.
Mr Fowler also had not checked whether the power lines were live.
The court ruled he was the person in control of the workplace, and was responsible for the drilling contractor's safety.
"Over the past five years, 17 Western Australians have died as a result of electrocution," WorkSafe WA commissioner Nina Lyhne said.
"Electricity is one of WorkSafe's operational priority areas, and a lot of time and resources are directed towards lessening the toll and educating people on how to work safely with electricity."
March 6, 2009
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