Fine over trade assistant's electrocution

For those in the construction industry, one of the most important aspects to consider is occupational health and safety.

However, in a new example out of Western Australia, it seems that this was recently overlooked.

In February 2013, a tradesperson was working in a home with his 18-year-old trades assistant. The two men were operating on a small area of roof space, with the employer feeding electrical cable through a conduit above to his assistant.

According to WorkSafe Western Australia, the 18-year-old was then electrocuted when an exposed conductor on the cable he was holding came into contact with a copper gas pipe. It was revealed that the stripped conductor had been taped, but was loosened while being passed through to the roof.

What went wrong?

Following investigations, it was revealed that the tradesperson hadn’t turned the electricity off at the mains. Instead, he removed fuse wedges in the home’s meter box to isolate different areas. The circuit was also not constantly checked throughout the process.

In court, WorkSafe said that he used a volt stick instead of a multimeter to test the circuit. However, these devices are known for providing inaccurate results.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Lex McCulloch explained that this example is a warning to everyone in the construction industry.

“This tragic incident should serve as a reminder of the extreme importance of checking and re-checking that the circuits being worked on are indeed not live,” he said in a February 6 media statement.

“When working with or around electrical circuits, any assumption could be a fatal one.”

Mr McCulloch went onto state that roof spaces are a dangerous, confined space which need strict safety systems in place to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

“In most cases, there is just no reason not to turn off the mains before entering a roof space.  This is something that applies to many trades such as pest controllers, insulation installers, air conditioning technicians and so on, not just electricians.”

In court, the business was fined $38,000, while the tradesperson received a $6,800 fine.

Importance of workplace safety

Regardless of the industry, workplace safety should be a major consideration given the serious consequences highlighted in this article.

While freak accidents will occur from time to time, businesses should invest in devices that can reduce the likelihood of this happening on site. Testo features a large range of devices including thermal imagers designed to keep your workers as safe as possible.