SINCE 2018, two fatalities have occurred in the Western District due to work-related falls and 134 claims were made by workers seriously injured after falling, according to WorkSafe data captured for Corangamite, Glenelg, Moyne, Southern Grampians, and Warrnambool Local Government Areas.

WorkSafe reported last week that three people had already died in Victoria this year after work-related falls with construction work posing the greatest risk.

The fatalities included a worker who died from head injuries after falling from the roof of a van, a jockey who died after falling from a horse - both in April, and a worker who died after falling three metres at a school in March.

WorkSafe executive director of health and safety, Narelle Beer, said frustratingly, although preventable, falls from a height remained among the top three causes of work-related deaths and one of the leading causes of work-related injury.

Dr Beer reminded employers that it doesn’t matter whether a project involves a day’s work or five minutes - it’s never ok to take short-cuts when working at heights and workers and their families were paying a high price.

“A fall can happen in just seconds but the consequences can last a lifetime, including devastating injuries and loss of life,” she said.

“Yet despite the well-known risks, we still see things like workers on a roof without fall protection, harnesses not attached to an anchor point, poorly installed scaffolding, platforms without guard rails, unprotected voids and unsafe ladders.”

Another 380 people have been seriously injured in workplace falls this year - including a toddler who fell from a second-storey office window and a contractor who fell 5.5 metres while repairing a factory roof in Campbellfield.

Since January, WorkSafe has prosecuted 17 employers for failing to take reasonable safety precautions while working at heights, leading to $1.1 million in court fines, costs and enforceable undertakings.

In the past five years, 41 workers were killed and 7395 were seriously injured across the state with almost half (18) of those construction workers, including three falls from or through roofs, three through stairwell voids, three from ladders and three from scaffolding.

About a third of the 7395 accepted claims for fall injuries in the same period came from construction workers (2168) and almost half of those fell from ladders (913).

The next most common industries for falls claims were transport, postal and warehousing (652), manufacturing (623), arts and recreation services (623), health care and social assistance (483), education and training (413), wholesale trade (393) and retail (377).

Across all industries, steps and stairways accounted for a quarter of all accepted fall injury claims (1792), followed closely by ladders (1664).

Five workers died after falls from horses, with another 479 injured. Four workers lost their lives falling from trucks, semitrailers, and lorries and 378 were injured.

Falls can also happen in the office, such as the 268 workers seriously injured falling from chairs or furniture since 2018, including a worker seriously injured when they fell while standing on a table to take a group photo.

To prevent falls from heights employers should:

- Eliminate the risk by, where practicable, doing all or some of the work on the ground or from a solid construction.

- Use a passive fall prevention device such as scaffolds, perimeter screens, guardrails, safety mesh or elevating work platforms.

- Use a positioning system, such as a travel-restraint system, to ensure employees work within a safe area.

- Use a fall arrest system, such as a harness, catch platform or safety nets, to limit the risk of injuries in the event of a fall.

- Use a fixed or portable ladder or implement administrative controls.