The following is an abridgement of an article originally published on the WorkSafe Queensland website.

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) has found that none of the eleven spray-painting businesses it inspected were meeting their health and safety obligations.

Key findings

• The audits targeted manufacturing and spray-painting workplaces across Queensland.
• The inspectors focused on key areas relating to manufacturing and spray-painting activities, such as ventilation, personal protective equipment, fire safety, and hazardous substances.
• The inspectors issued 91 statutory compliance notices, including 70 improvement notices, 17 on-the-spot fixes, and four prohibition notices.

Importance of compliance

Peter McKay, Head of WHSQ, said that proactive audits were essential to prevent fatalities, injuries, and illnesses in the manufacturing sector, which is one of the highest risk industries in Queensland.

He said that there was no excuse for not taking appropriate safety measures to reduce risks to workers and others, and that WHSQ would continue to monitor the sector and take action when needed.

“The Manufacturing sector is one of the highest risk industries for recording workplace fatalities and serious incidents in Queensland.

“WHSQ will continue to monitor this sector with ongoing proactive compliance activities to assist in promoting increased levels of compliance.”

Follow-up actions

The workplaces visited during the audits are now undergoing follow-up compliance checks to ensure that they have addressed the identified issues and implemented the necessary safety measures.

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Sources

Safety audit reveals manufacturing and spray-painting businesses failing to meet health and safety duties by WorkSafe Queensland, 4th December, 2023.