$90K fine after worker injured in fall

A worker suffered serious injuries after falling through a patio roof, leading to a $90,000 fine for a construction company.

Apollo Construction & Renovation Pty Ltd was charged with failing to ensure the regulator was notified of the incident, failing to ensure the site where the incident occurred was not disturbed and failing to ensure that a safe work method statement was prepared for the work.

Apollo was fined $60,000 on the first two charges and $30,000 on the third in the Perth Magistrates Court.

In 2021 Apollo was engaged by the owners of a home in Carine to renovate their patio. A director of Apollo and two labourers he had engaged were working on the patio.

One of these labourers was working alone on the roof of the patio when he fell onto a polycarbonate sheet, causing it to break.

He fell through the broken sheet and landed on the ground, a fall of almost four metres, and suffered serious injuries.

WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said the case provided a reminder to report notifiable incidents, avoid disturbing the site of an incident and prepare a safe work method statement for high-risk construction work.

“The Work Health and Safety Act imposes a duty on a person conducting a business to report any notifiable incident to the regulator immediately after becoming aware of it,” North said.

“WorkSafe was not made aware of this incident until nearly three weeks later when the injured person’s lawyer notified WorkSafe.

“It is also a duty of the person in control to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the incident site is not disturbed until an inspector either arrives at the scene or directs that the scene is released.

“The WHS Regulations require a safe work method statement detailing the measures to be taken to control risks to be prepared before high construction work commences — that includes work where a person could fall more than two metres. In this incident, the roof of the patio was higher than two metres.

“The incident is a timely reminder that it is the duty of anyone in charge of a workplace to conduct a thorough risk assessment before work begins and to put safe work procedures in place to reduce the risk of injury to workers and others.”

Image credit: iStock.com/DNY59. Stock image used is for illustrative purposes only.