Explosive near-miss deserves safety investigation

There was a brief ABC report from Western Australia on 12 November 2011 about a young man receiving serious burns from an industrial explosion.  Information is scant on this incident in the press but SafetyAtWorkBlog has been told that the incident occurred at drinks after work.  As the incident is not considered related to work, WorkSafeWA is unlikely to be involved with any investigation.

This seems an odd situation as it is reported that the serious injury occurred “when a large engine exploded in an industrial yard”!

Young worker + alcohol (potentially) + industrial workplace = a serious near miss, if nothing else.

It is hoped that whoever investigates the incident shares some of the findings so that important OHS lessons will be offered.  WorkSafeWA seems to be the logical choice for investigator but we will have to wait to see who takes the lead.

Kevin Jones

reservoir, victoria, australia
Categories alcohol, government, law, media, OHS, risk, safety, workplace, WorkSafe, youngTags , , , ,

One thought on “Explosive near-miss deserves safety investigation”

  1. A workplace function at the workplace. Who supplied the alcohol etc. My understanding is that workers comp provisions are available. Why wouldn’t worksafe WA investigate?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Concatenate Web Development
© Designed and developed by Concatenate Aust Pty Ltd