Electrical contractor fined over unsafe electrical work

An electrical contractor in Western Australia has been fined $10,000 over an incident in 2006 in which a worker received an electric shock when a drilling rig mast came into contact with high-voltage power lines.

Jeremy Paul Blakiston Fowler (then trading as Electro Power Services) pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the workplace was safe and was fined in the Perth Magistrates Court.

In May 2006, Western Power had contracted Outback Power Services to construct 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.

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 mast touched the power lines and the drilling contractor received an electric shock and was thrown backwards from the drilling rig.

The court heard that no formal pre-start meeting had been held before the work commenced 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.

Fowler had not checked whether the power lines were live, assuming they were. He was the person in control of the workplace and so responsible for the drilling contractor’s safety.

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said the case illustrated the vital importance of taking every possible precaution when working with or near electricity: “Over the past five years, 17 Westerns Australians have died as a result of electrocution, eight in workplaces and nine outside of workplaces.

“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. The employer involved in this case was an experienced electrical contractor who held all the relevant qualifications to supervise the work being performed that day.

“He really should have known better than to allow a worker to perform tasks so close to live power lines, but he did not advise the worker to approach the job in any other way or discuss any other options with him.”