SafeWork SA recently announced that it carried out an inspection campaign focused on vehicle hoist safety across auto workshops following an alarming number of safety issues.

The audits of 72 workshops in metropolitan Adelaide and regional South Australia led to SafeWork SA inspectors issuing 315 compliance notices. These included 19 prohibition notices, which prohibits the area or piece of equipment in question from being used until compliance is achieved.

More than 80 per cent of workshops inspected were found to have non-compliances, while two sites received 24 notices each.

Vehicle hoists and pressure vessels such as air compressors were a focus of the campaign, and the campaign followed a similar blitz in 2011, which was sparked after a worker was crushed to death beneath a vehicle hoist at an automotive workshop in Wingfield.

The design of vehicle hoists requires workers to position themselves directly under suspended vehicles to carry out mechanical work. Vehicle hoists are required to be checked annually by an accredited person and must undergo a major service at least once every 10 years.

Pressure vessels are containers designed to hold fluids or gases at high pressures and are required to undergo external checks by an accredited person annually and inspections of their internal parts every four years.

The regulator said that more than 100 of the statutory notices issued during the latest campaign related to vehicle hoists while more than 60 involved pressure vessels. The issues identified included:

• Vehicle hoists not being maintained in line with legislative requirements (7 prohibition notices, 54 improvement notices)
• Inadequate vehicle hoist operational instructions (23 improvement notices)
• Lack of evidence of vehicle hoist design registration
• Pressure vessel maintenance not complying with legislative requirements (6 prohibition notices, 31 improvement notices)
• Lack of evidence of pressure vessel design registration.

The vehicle hoist safety awareness campaign follows SafeWork SA issuing a record number of statutory notices across the 2023/24 financial year. The regulator issued 6021 notices – a 57 per cent increase on the previous financial year.

Additionally, the regulator has conducted 6813 worksite visits, an increase of 33 per cent on the previous financial year.

The construction industry with the most notices (1754) followed by manufacturing (964) and retail (754). The education and training sector received 458 notices, health care and social assistance 185 and agriculture, forestry and fishing 184.

The five most common causes for a notice were poor equipment service, maintenance and repair (829), managing risk to health and safety (773), managing risk of falls (586) and electrical safety (359).

“The alarming number of notices issued during the auto workshop campaign illustrates the need for an increased focus on safety in the automotive industry,” said SafeWork SA executive director, Glenn Farrell.

“It is disappointing and not acceptable to see so many instances where hoists are not being properly maintained.”