Another fall protection failing sends construction a message

19 June 2008

An eastern suburbs company and its director have been convicted and fined a total of $17,000 for failing to provide appropriate fall protection at a Northcote home renovation project.

Maurice McCutcheon, the director of McCutcheon Builders Pty Ltd, pleaded guilty to one charge laid under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. He was fined $2000.

McCutcheon Builders Pty Ltd pleaded guilty to one charge and was convicted and fined $15,000.

The Director of WorkSafe’s Construction and Utilities program, Chris Webb, said the risk of falls from height were still not being adequately addressed by the construction industry.

“Despite years of workshops, guidance material and enforcement campaigns, it is still common to find building sites without fall protection.

WorkSafe told Melbourne Magistrate Sarah Dawes on Monday a sub-contracted plasterer fellwhile doing plastering work at a Northcote house that was being renovated in May 2007.     

The three plasterers were brought in to plaster a cathedral-style ceiling around five metres high.

As the principal contractor, McCutcheon Builders was deemed to be the employer of the three self-employed plasterers and thereby had control over site safety. 

WorkSafe told Magistrate Dawes that 65-year-old Alberto Capretta of Preston fell backwards to the ground from a plank 2.4 metres above the floor.

An autopsy found Mr Capretta had a stroke which caused him to fall and strike his head resulting in a fractured skull, however the lack of fall protection was the central issue behind WorkSafe’s prosecution.

WorkSafe told the court:

• the defendants should have provided fall protection where people were working at a height above two metres;
• an adequately assembled trestle scaffold would have been fitted with edge protection in the form of guard railings, toe boards or kickboards and outriggers for stability;
• the defendants should not have allowed work on an incomplete scaffold;
• the defendants should have provided information and instruction about the need to use fall protection as it provided the trestles being used by the plasterers. The trestles were clearly marked “planks must not be used above two metres.

Mr Webb said unless an active and imaginative approach to potential dangers was taken, more people in the construction industry would find themselves before the courts.

“Failing to understand your obligations and not applying high standards is a short cut to disaster,” he said.

In the 2006-2007 financial year, 13 Australian construction workers died after falling from height, four of those were in Victoria. More than 620 Australian construction workers are hospitalised each year due to falls.

A general requirement to provide and maintain a safe workplace has been in place since 1985 while construction-specific regulations for working at height have been in place for several years.

Targeting falls prevention in construction during February and March this year, WorkSafe inspectors issued 37 Prohibition Notices and 26 Improvement Notices in visits to 185 Victorian building sites. Another 88 fall prevention issues were rectified while inspectors were present.

On 13 occasions, they saw situations so dangerous that they ordered work to immediately stop.

WorkSafe has produced a number of publications targeting fall prevention. They can be found in the ‘publications’ section of WorkSafe’s website www.worksafe.vic.gov.au, or call the Advisory Service on 1800 136 089.

The charges:

McCutcheon Builders Pty Ltd and Maurice McCutcheon. Each was charged under

Section 21(1) & 21(2)(a) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004.

Section 21. Duties of employers to employees

An employer must, so far as is reasonably practicable, provide and maintain for employees of the employer a working environment that is safe and without risks to health.

Without limiting sub-section (1), an employer contravenes that sub-section if the employer fails to…provide or maintain plant or systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health;