Company directors prosecuted after cutting corners kills worker

30 April 2010

Two company directors with nearly 50 years’ construction industry experience were convicted and fined today, after cutting corners led to the death of employee Peter Miller.

Mr Miller died in 2006 when the partially built floor he was working on collapsed after more than 10 tonnes of building blocks were placed on it.

The Geelong County Court today found Echuca construction company Permanent Erection Constructions Pty Ltd (PEC) guilty on one count under section 21 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. The company was convicted and fined $350,000.

Company directors Andrew Leorke and David Spedding – who each pleaded not guilty to the charges against them – were convicted and fined $60,000 each.

PEC and its directors were previously fined in 2008 when they continued construction work after Mr Miller’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 today that Mr Miller’s 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 May 2006, when PEC was constructing the first floor above a shop in Apollo Bay. Mr Miller 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. Peter Miller fell to the ground floor below, and was crushed under falling blocks and panels.  He died at the scene.

An expert later found that the cost of getting expert advice to ensure the wall wasn’t overburdened would have been relatively small compared with the overall cost of the project.

“The people responsible for this workplace should have known the risks of loading heavy materials onto a floor under construction,” Mr Krpan said.

“Nobody thought to consult an engineer to determine how much weight the floor could bear before beginning work load the partially constructed floor with floor panels and blocks.

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

Company directors can be fined more than $200,000 per offence.  In 2004, the Maxwell Review of the Occupational Health and Safety Act recommended changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act to support prosecutions of company directors.  A subsequent review in 2007 recommended a more vigorous approach.  Since July 2009, WorkSafe has prosecuted 15 company directors.

“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,” Mr Krpan said.