Prosecution Details

Charge 1 & 2 – Being an employer who has an employee who works in a lead-risk job at a workplace failed to ensure that biological monitoring was conducted in relation to that employee at the prescribed times. Regulation 5.59 of the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 (WA)

Charge 3 & 4 – Being an employer at a workplace failed to ensure that individual counselling and health surveillance supervised by an appointed medical practitioner was provided for at no cost to each person who worked at the workplace in a lead-risk job. Regulation 5.56 of the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 (WA)    

Background

Jinning Pty Ltd (Jinning) have two locations. They are situated in a yard at 201 Broadwood St, West Kalgoorlie and a yard at 15 Davison Street, Maddington. Both sites conduct fire assay work. Fire assay work involves the use of lead products and is a lead-risk job.

Fire assay is the technique used to determine the precious metal content of silver and or gold ore in core samples using Lead Flux as follows.  The sample containing precious metal traces is ground up into a powder. The crushed up sample is mixed with flux containing lead, and then heated in the furnace to 1050 deg. The molten layer of flux heats up during the process and attracts the precious metal such as gold.  The gold that has been attracted to the lead forms a button after it is poured into a cupel and cooled.

Jinning employed a number of workers at both sites and the following workers worked primarily as lab fire assay workers who did some maintenance work primarily at the Kalgoorlie location at various times through until at least 31 March 2022:

1. Worker A commenced on 10 August 2020
2. Worker B commenced on 3 August 2020
3. Worker C commenced on 3 March 2020
4. Worker D commenced around February 2021

Each of these workers were working in a lead risk job from commencement date until at least 31 March 2022.

The purpose of health surveillance is to determine that the health of employees is not adversely affected while they are working in lead-risk jobs. Health surveillance includes blood samples (biological monitoring) to confirm that the absorbed dose of lead is below the specified removal level. For males the OSH Regulations require that an employee must be removed from a lead-risk job if the employee’s blood level is at or above 30 micrograms per decilitre.

Jinning Worker A became ill and took himself for testing and was hospitalised for very high lead levels (97.5 micrograms per decilitre) in April 2022. As a result WorkSafe conducted an investigation.

Offences

Regulation 5.56 provides that individual counselling and health surveillance must be provided at no cost to workers working in a lead-risk job.

Regulation 5.59 provides that biological monitoring is conducted for each employee who works in a lead risk job at the following prescribed times:

1. Within the first month of the person commencing the job; and
2. 2 months after the initial monitoring; and
3. 6 months after the initial monitoring; and
4. At such subsequent times as are determined by the appointed medical practitioner who is supervising the person’s health surveillance.

In relation to the fire assay work being carried out at 201 Broadwood Street, West Kalgoorlie, the required health surveillance and biological monitoring for employees working in fire assay at this location was not carried out from August 2020 to 31 March 2022.

Jinning had assessed that fire assay was a lead-risk job and had warning signs at the Kalgoorlie workplace warning of possible exposure to lead. It had also identified the need to conduct health surveillance or biological monitoring of staff.  Jinning provided biological monitoring for its Perth based employees and various Kalgoorlie based employees when they undertook fire essay work in Perth but not to the four above listed workers until after 31 March 2022.

Medical practices, specialising in occupational health were available in Kalgoorlie that could have provided counselling and health surveillance including biological monitoring. Jinning made some enquiries of its Perth provider, however that provider did not have a Kalgoorlie testing facility, but did not investigate medical options available in Kalgoorlie.

Both Worker A and Worker B commenced with Jinning in August 2020. They should have had biological monitoring in August 2020, October 2020, February 2021 and thereafter, as such subsequent times as determined by the supervising medical practitioner.  None of these mandated biological monitoring milestones occurred and the offences continued from August 2020 through until 31 March 2022.

Both Worker C and Worker D were working in a lead risk job and should have been receiving health surveillance including biological monitoring. The offence involving Worker C commenced in August 2020 and the offence involving Worker D commenced in February 2021. Both offences continued until 31 March 2022.

Subsequent to Worker A’s hospitalisation the Kalgoorlie Jinning workers underwent biological testing for lead levels with the following results:

Each of these workers were subsequently removed from lead-risk job roles and have not returned to their previous roles. Jinning has informed WorkSafe that the workers will not ever return to a lead-risk job at Jinning and are no longer lead risk workers. Worker A was hospitalised and had to undergo treatment, chelation therapy, in order to reduce his very high blood lead levels.

WorkSafe Inspectors issued a number of Improvement Notices to Jinning to improve its safety standards at both the Maddington and Kalgoorlie sites and to reduce the risk that workers would be exposed to lead which were complied with by Jinning.  As a result of the WorkSafe investigation Jinning put in place new practices to ensure blood tests were routinely carried out at both sites and improved its practices at the workplace to reduce workers exposure to harmful lead levels which will minimise the risk of harmful lead levels in the future.

The Offender entered a guilty plea and was convicted and sentenced on 28 August 2023.

The Magistrate imposed the following fines on Jinning Pty Ltd

Charge 1 - KA1886/23  fine $10,000

Charge 2 – KA1887/23 - $7,000

Charge 3 – KA1888/23 - $7,000

Charge 4 - KA1889/23  - $6,000

Costs of $5647.41 were ordered