According to the safety authority, up to 80 regional and metropolitan metal product factories will be subject to surprise inspections. Metal work is being targeted because SafeWork claims the sector has an overly high proportion of worker compensation claims.
Statistics from the authority show more than 2000 unguarded machinery-related injury claims lodged in SA between 2003 and 2006.
If machines are found to be unguarded during inspection, SafeWork can issue a prohibition notice which would take machines out of action until the problem is fixed. This can have an impact on manufacturing processes.