$40K fine follows skylight fall

On 3 March, City Way Demolition Pty Ltd was sentenced ex parte in the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court after being found guilty of failing to ensure the workplace was safe and without risks to health, and failing, without reasonable excuse, to provide WorkSafe Victoria with required information and documents. City Way Demolition was also ordered to pay $7135 in costs.

In October 2022, three City Way workers commenced demolition works at the single storey dwelling, including the manual removal of roof tiles by hand. It was observed by witnesses that at least two people working on the roof were doing so with no fall protection in place — the roof being more than two metres in height.

One of the workers fell through a fibreglass sheet on the garage roof during the works, sustaining vertebrae fractures that have left him unable to return to work. It was reasonably practicable — a WorkSafe Victoria investigation found — for City Way to have reduced or eliminated health and safety risks by using a passive fall prevention device, a work positioning system or a fall arrest system.

Following the incident, the company failed to comply with a WorkSafe Victoria notice requesting information and documents by the end of March 2023, the court heard. Working at height was too well-known a risk for these types of incidents to continue occurring, WorkSafe Victoria’s Executive Director of Health and Safety, Sam Jenkin, said.

“Despite there being clear regulations, extensive guidance, and far too many examples of preventable injuries and deaths, the company chose to bypass fall safety measures altogether,” Jenkin said. “The blatant disregard for safety — by not having any fall protection in place and then refusing to cooperate with WorkSafe’s investigation — is very disappointing.”

To prevent falls from height, employers should implement the highest possible measures from the five levels in the hierarchy of controls, WorkSafe Victoria advised. These are:

• Level 1: eliminating the risk. This can be done by, where practicable, doing all or some of the work on the ground or from a solid construction.
• Level 2: using a passive fall prevention device. These include scaffolds, perimeter screens, guardrails, safety mesh or elevating work platforms.
• Level 3: using a positioning system. An example is a travel-restraint system — to ensure employees work within a safe area.
• Level 4: using a fall arrest system. These include a harness, catch platform or safety nets — to limit the risk of injuries in the event of a fall.
• Level 5: using a fixed or portable ladder, or implementing administrative controls.
   

Image credit: iStock.com/s-cphoto. Stock image used is for illustrative purposes only.