WorkSafe Tasmania is reminding mine operators and operators of high-risk processing facilities to review the controls used to prevent falls from temporary work platforms, work surfaces, openings and edges.
Background
In March 2026, a contract night-shift worker was fatally injured while undertaking maintenance at a mine processing plant in Western Australia. Preliminary information suggests the worker may have fallen through an opening in a grid-mesh platform adjacent to the work area.
The incident at the time of the creation of this safety alert, remains under investigation and no causative factors have been confirmed.
This incident reinforces lessons from the deaths of two workers at Tasmania’s Mt Lyell mine in December 2013. The workers fell when the temporary work platform on which they were standing gave way.
Following an inquest into those deaths, the Coroner recommended:
- temporary work platforms like the platform involved in the incident should not be used
- platforms should be properly designed, engineered and constructed
- appropriate fall-arrest equipment should be used where required
- workers should be trained in the correct use of fall-arrest equipment
- the use of fall-arrest equipment should be regularly supervised and audited.
Required risk controls
Under Part 4.4 of the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2022, a person conducting a business or undertaking must manage the risk of a person falling from one level to another.
So far as is reasonably practicable, work involving a fall risk must be undertaken on the ground or on a solid construction.
Where the risk cannot be eliminated, higher-order controls such as fall-prevention devices and work-positioning systems must be considered before relying on fall-arrest systems.
Recommended action
Mine operators and operators of high-risk processing facilities should immediately:
- identify all temporary work platforms, grid-mesh flooring, removable sections, penetrations, openings and unprotected edges
- review fall-risk assessments for maintenance, shutdown and non-routine work, including changes to plant, structures and work surfaces
- verify that every platform is suitable for its intended use and has been properly designed, engineered, constructed and installed
- confirm platform load ratings, supports, fixings, edge protection and access arrangements
- review inspection and maintenance systems and remove unsafe or damaged platforms and gratings from service
- ensure temporary alterations and removed flooring cannot create an uncontrolled opening
- require pre-work verification of the work area by a competent person
- provide effective contractor coordination, supervision and communication
- provide adequate lighting so workers can identify openings, edges and changes in level
- ensure workers using fall-restraint or fall-arrest equipment are trained, competent and regularly assessed
- establish and test rescue procedures wherever fall-arrest equipment is used
- audit compliance with fall-prevention procedures and address identified deficiencies.
Temporary work platforms must not be treated as an informal or improvised solution. They must provide a stable and structurally adequate working surface, with suitable protection against falls.