Concrete mishap incurs fines for building owner and company director

A concrete pour at an Adelaide building in 2006 that ended disastrously has resulted in the building owner and its company director being fined by the SA Industrial Relations Court.

Marton Nominees and its director, William Nash, both pleaded guilty to charges laid under the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986 relating to the duties of a building occupier and the responsible officer of a company.

A decision had been made to build apartments on the roof of the building and, on the day of the incident, Nash was directing work to fill several gaps with wet concrete. The court heard he was the self-styled project manager for this work despite having no formal qualifications in construction or building work. Under the weight of a tonne of wet concrete being poured into a stairwell shaft, wooden formwork beneath collapsed, resulting in the concrete and woodwork plunging four metres to the floor below, where three workers were put at risk, with one on the floor beneath suffering neck and back injuries as he jumped clear from nearby scaffolding.

SafeWork SA submitted that there were many serious shortcomings including inadequate hazard identification or risk assessment on the task, few if any tests or calculations to ensure the formwork could actually bear the load of concrete being poured, no consultation with or advice from a suitably qualified engineer on the safety or methodology of the task and no adequate measures taken to ensure the floor below was cleared while the pour was undertaken.

Describing the incident as a “serious breach of the legislation”, Industrial Magistrate Michael Ardlie said: “The second defendant [Nash] should not have undertaken this work. He lacked any relevant qualifications or experience. His actions clearly contributed to the commission of an offence by the first defendant [the company].

“Commercial construction work is inherently dangerous and the second defendant was clearly out of his depth as far as being able to conduct the work that he was attempting to perform on the day of the incident.”

The magistrate imposed convictions and a single fine of $44,000 upon the defendants. The fine was discounted by 20% in consideration of the guilty plea, contrition and cooperation with investigators.

The case underscores the responsibilities that building occupiers and those who run companies have under workplace safety laws. The occupier of a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace is maintained in a safe condition. A company director, or someone in a similar position who is deemed a responsible officer under the legislation, must also take reasonable steps to ensure the company complies with its workplace safety obligations under the Act.