Businesses who carry out signage installation work in Victoria should be aware that WorkSafe is now policing the requirement for businesses to have an EWP licensed safety / retrieval observer during signage installation work carried out at height.

An ASGA Member has advised us that they have now been stopped a total of five times during installation work for operating without an EWP licensed safety / retrieval observer on various job sites in Victoria. The job sites were entered as part of WorkSafe Victoria’s proactive intervention program to provide guidance, and to assess and enforce compliance with specific health and safety laws.

In one, typical instance, the inspections were conducted during bump-out for an event and company personnel were observed operating a boom lift on-site to remove signage, without the presence of a safety observer. The operators were wearing appropriate safety gear including harnesses and had properly erected an exclusion zone around their worksite. They were also able to produce a valid WorkSafe HRWL (WP) and show an SWMS titled Installation of Signage.

While a safety check on the EWP had been conducted prior to its operation that day, there was no safety observer present at the time of the inspection. The operators were ordered to ground and work was immediately stopped by the WorkSafe inspector.

After speaking to the boom operators on site, the WorkSafe inspector also contacted operational management and the company owner to advise them that the work being conducted was not compliant with current work safety laws, and that it would not be allowed to continue until or unless a safety observer was present.

WorkSafe Victoria has published an Elevating Work Platforms Industry Standard (Edition 4 June 2023). This publication provides the following description for a Safety Observer:

A person with line of sight to the operator / occupants located within an operating EWP, who is trained in the emergency rescue procedures for the specific EWP(s) that they are acting as a safety observer for, in order to take prompt action to rescue the operator(s) or warn the operators of hazards.

The Industry Standard provides instruction of when a safety observer should be used and provides instruction on their requirements. You can read the industry standards here. You can also refer to a dedicated Elevating Work Platforms page on the WorkSafe Victoria website, which includes a Q&A section for further guidance. You can find the page here.

This is a timely reminder to all businesses in Victoria that safety observers are required under law for signage installation where that work is carried out from elevated work platforms. You should be advising clients of this requirement, and building the cost of the additional personnel into your quotes for work of this nature.

Non-compliance could result in work stoppages and penalties for the business conducting the installation work. In the unfortunate event of an accident, the client could also be liable under Australian Chain of Responsibility legislation. Please make sure you review, and comply with, these important requirements.