Regulators of workplace health and safety in New South Wales and Victoria have set their sights on practices involving working at height as well as exposure to occupational silicosis as part of their latest blitz which is designed to improve safety on construction sites.

Regulators of workplace health and safety in New South Wales and Victoria have set their sights on practices involving working at height as well as exposure to occupational silicosis as part of their latest blitz which is designed to improve safety on construction sites.

In a joint statement, WorkSafe Victoria and SafeWork New South Wales have announced that inspectors from both regulators are taking part in a cross-border blitz which is being conducted in the Yarrawonga-Mulwala region this week.

In particular, the inspectors will aim to ensure that suitable practices are being followed when working at height as well as when performing high-risk crystalline silica work.

The blitz comes as both work areas present significant risk to workers.

Since 2018, 20 construction workers in Victoria have lost their lives because of falls from height. A further 7,769 across all industries have suffered serious injuries for which claims for workers compensation have been accepted. Of these, almost one third (2,283) were employed in construction.

Over that same time, there have been sixteen reported fatalities throughout that state of workers who have been exposed to crystalline silica dust. A further 321 workers have suffered serious injuries from such exposure.

In NSW, meanwhile, 16 construction workers died as a result of falls from height between 2018 and 2022.

Furthermore, poor practices continue to occur.

Based on visits to more than 80 construction sites in the NSW Murray region so far this year, SafeWork NSW has issued eight penalty notices for unsafe work, 37 prohibition orders and 187 improvement notices.

As the latest blitz occurs, guidance on several workplace regulator web sites provides advice on hazards associated with aforementioned areas along with measures which can be employed to avoid injury.

According to SafeWork NSW, strategies to minimise risk when working at height include:

• Working on the ground or on solid platforms where possible.
• Using fall prevention devices such as temporary work platforms, guardrails and scaffolding.
• Using work positioning systems such restraint systems or industrial rope access systems.
• Using fall arrest systems such as industrial safety nets, catch platforms or harness-based fall-arrest harnesses used with lifelines or individual anchors.
• Using fixed or portable ladders or implementing administrative controls.

Meanwhile, guidance on the Safe Work Australia web site states that occupational exposure to silica dust can occur when working with either natural stone or man-made products that contain crystalline silica.

Recently, media attention has focused on engineered stone – the high crystalline silica content (97 percent) of which has sparked calls for complete product bans as there is no known safe method by which to work with this material.

However, other products which also contain crystalline silica include natural sandstone (70 to 95 percent concentration), granite (20 to 45 percent), shale (22 percent), slate (25 to 40 percent), limestone (2 percent) and marble (2 percent).

Problems can occur when dust is generated as a result of such products being cut, crushed, grinded, drilled, sawn or polished.

Where particles are small enough, these can penetrate deep into the lungs and can cause irreversible lung damage.

According to Safe Work Australia, measures to reduce hazards associated with exposure to crystalline silica include (in order):

• Where possible, avoiding using products which contain crystalline silica.
• Using products which contain lower silica content
• Isolation of the hazard – using principles of safe work design to designate areas for tasks that generate dust and appropriate worker positioning during these tasks, using enclosures and automation to conduct dust generating tasks.
• Engineering controls that minimise the risk of exposure to generated dust. These can include local exhaust ventilation, water suppression (wet cutting) or using tools with dust collection attachments.
• Administrative controls, including good housekeeping policies, shift rotations and modifying cutting sequences.
• Use of personal protective equipment, including appropriate respiratory equipment (generally a minimum of a P2 efficiency half face respirator) and work clothing that does not collect dust.

It should be noted that employers have a duty to ensure that respirable crystalline silica levels do not exceed the level of 0.05 mg/m3 over an eight-hour time-weighted average period as required under the workplace exposure standard for respirable crystalline silica published by Safe Work Australia.

Matt Wielgosz, WorkSafe Director Construction and Earth Resources, said the importance of inspections in high-risk industries such as construction should not be underestimated.

“It’s a million times better to identify and fix safety issues beforehand than it is to see a workmate suffer a horrific injury or death that could’ve been easily avoided,” he said.