WA company ordered to pay $1m over 16yo factory death

A Western Australian company has been fined nearly one million dollars, plus costs, over the death of a teenager who was critically injured at a Perth factory two years ago. Hamiora Sharland, 16, suffered crush injuries when a steel beam weighing 425 kilograms fell on his chest at the TLC Surface Treatment factory in the suburb of Welshpool on June 15, 2023. He was taken to hospital but died shortly after. The beam was suspended on a monorail system and the teenager was assisting with spray painting and sandblasting at the time. Company ordered to pay $1m RPC Surface Treatment, which has the business name of TLC Surface Treatment, has been fined $975,000. It had pleaded guilty in the Magistrates Court in Perth to two charges of failing to ensure the safety of a worker. The company has also been ordered to pay costs of $3,348.50. The teenager was the fourth person to die at work in WA or in nearby waters over a four-week period in 2023. At the time, Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) assistant state secretary Glenn McLaren said it was rare for someone so young to die at work. "In my experience, in my 25 years as a union official, I've never dealt with someone so young losing their life in a workplace," he said. "Any workplace death is a tragedy but this one more so."