Company directors prosecuted over death resulting from cutting corners

The Geelong County Court recently found construction company Permanent Erection Constructions (PEC) guilty on one count under section 21 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. The company was convicted and fined $350,000 and its directors Andrew Leorke and David Spedding, with nearly 50 years’ construction industry experience between them, convicted and fined $60,000 each.

PEC and its directors were previously fined in 2008 when they continued construction work after the worker’s death, despite WorkSafe issuing a notice prohibiting them from accessing the construction site. They were also fined when a wall collapsed on their construction site in 2006. In total, PEC has now been fined $520,000; and its directors $165,000.

WorkSafe Victoria’s Acting Executive Director for Health and Safety Stan Krpan said the death was preventable - if the company directors had simply recognised they didn’t have the appropriate engineering expertise to calculate the weight-bearing load of the floor and sought specialist advice.

The incident took place in 2006, when PEC was constructing the first floor above a shop in Apollo Bay. The man was employed by PEC as a carpenter. Instructions were given for the packs of blocks and panels - which were to be used to panel the entire floor - to be lifted up by crane and placed on the partially constructed first floor.

Just after ten tonnes of floor panels were placed on the floor, the floor collapsed, crushing the worker under falling blocks and panels.

“The people responsible for this workplace should have known the risks of loading heavy materials onto a floor under construction,” Krpan said. “Nobody thought to consult an engineer to determine how much weight the floor could bear before beginning work to load the partially constructed floor with floor panels and blocks.

“All the company directors needed to do was seek the advice of an engineer to provide guidance on how much material could be stored on the floor.

“The law is clear that company directors have duties to show ‘reasonable care’. They have a unique leadership responsibility to ensure safety. We take this very seriously.”