Health and Safety Grant Initiatives Open

First-year electrical apprentice unsupervised on the job. 

An electrical company has pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court this week to one charge of failing to provide their employees with the necessary supervision to perform their work without risk to health safely.

On 19 June 2019, a first-year apprentice was observed by two Energy Safe Victoria officers installing solar panels on a property at Craigieburn.

He was installing electrical cables into a live switchboard on a two-storey property without edge protection and unsupervised by a qualified electrician. Further investigation found that the apprentice had not had formal training in the work he was directed to perform, and the equipment he was handling was energised at the time.

The director of the company had not been on site since earlier that day.  'This incident could have easily ended in tragedy,' said WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Julie Nielsen.

The company was convicted and fined $10,000. 

The original article can be viewed on the WorkSafe Victoria website.

Applications open for health and safety grant initiatives in South Australia.  

SafeWork SA is offering funding grants of up to $25,000 through the 2021 Augusta Zadow Awards for health and safety initiatives supporting young workers and women in the workplace.

Businesses and individuals are welcome to submit applications with ideas for education, research or solutions that improve the health and safety of young people or women working in South Australia.

The annual awards were established in recognition of Augusta Zadow, who played a crucial role in securing better conditions for employees, particularly women and children. She became the first female factory inspector in South Australia in 1895.

To be successful, applicants must propose a project that will provide a solution to a work health and safety issue and/or significantly improve health and safety through research and further education that will benefit women and young people.

Entries to the 2021 grants will be open until Monday, 16 August 2021, and the successful applicants will be announced in October as part of National Safe Work Month.

The original article can be viewed on the SafeWork SA website.