'This case should serve as a warning to other workplaces'
A fire assay company in Western Australia has been fined $30,000 after it failed to carry out biological monitoring to employees, resulting to the lead poisoning of four employees.
Jinning Pty Ltd pleaded guilty at the Kalgoorlie Magistrates Court to four charges under the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996.
Under the regulations, employers are mandated to provide health surveillance to employees in lead-risk jobs to ensure their health is not adversely affected. Regulations state that employees must be removed from a lead-risk job if their lead level is at or above 30 micrograms per decilitre.
Jinning, however, failed to provide four workers with the required biological monitoring despite such medical services being available in Kalgoorlie, according to WorkSafe Deputy Commissioner Sally North.
Employees with high levels of lead
As a result of this failure, one employee at its West Kalgoorlie premises became ill in April 2022, with his blood lead levels at 97.5 micrograms per decilitre. The employee had to be admitted to a hospital and undergo chelation treatment to reduce his lead levels.
The case triggered the WorkSafe investigation at the Jinning workplace, where subsequent testings revealed that three other employees had lead levels of 91.2, 88.8, and 41.8.
"After the workers' high lead levels were discovered, they were all removed from lead-risk roles," North said in a media release.
WorkSafe commenced prosecution after the employees' recorded high levels of lead in their blood.
"This is the first time WorkSafe has taken prosecution action against an employer over failing to provide health surveillance for a worker in a lead-risk job," North said.
"Lead poisoning can lead to serious complications such as high blood pressure and brain, kidney, and reproductive health issues."
Jinning pleads guilty to safety violations
Jinning pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to ensure that biological monitoring was conducted on an employee in a lead-risk job, along with two charges of failing to ensure that counselling and health surveillance were provided to employees in a lead-risk job.
The fire assay company has been fined a total of $17,000 on the biological monitoring charges, as well as $13,000 on the two health surveillance charges. It was also ordered to pay $5,647 in court costs.
"This case should serve as a warning to other workplaces involved in fire assay or any other lead-related activity that their workers' lead levels must be carefully monitored and action taken if they approach removal level – otherwise the employer risks prosecution," North said.
According to WorkSafe, Jinning has implemented new procedures to ensure blood tests are carried out at its sites, as well as improved its practices to reduce workers' exposure to harmful levels of lead.
