Height death 'was preventable'

The family of 16 year old Joel Exner, who died after falling 12 metres through the roof of a storage shed at a construction site at Eastern Creek in NSW in October, says the death could have easily been prevented.

Charlie Williams, Joel Exner's uncle, said that young workers "should be trained before they do anything". Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy union official Brian Fitzpatrick said that repeated safety warnings at the Australand building site were ignored. "We have a lot of very angry building workers furious that a worker that young should die in this way," he said.

Australand managing director, Brendan Crotty said in hindsight, Exner's death could have been prevented. "The accident at Eastern Creek was probably preventable," he said.

Following this and other work-related fatalities, the Labour Council of NSW is pushing for the State Government to implement a criminal charge of manslaughter, which would carry a maximum fine of $5 million and up to 25 years jail for employers found negligent in work-related fatalities.