Worker dies after construction site fall

07 June 2010

A construction worker who was seriously injured after a fall at a domestic construction site has died in hospital after being taken off life support.

WorkSafe inspectors believe the 59 year-old man was balancing on a single plank of wood, loosely attached to homemade scaffolding, when he fell three metres to the ground. The incident happened shortly before 9am last Thursday at a site in Northcote, Melbourne.

“This fatality is the eleventh workplace fatality for Victoria for 2010, and the sixth Victorian worker to die after a fall from height since the start of 2009,” WorkSafe Victoria’s Construction and Utilities Director Chris Webb said.

“Construction is one of the fastest growing industries in Victoria – and falls from height are one of our biggest workplace killers,” he said.

WorkSafe Victoria today urged people working at height to do the job properly - without taking shortcuts.

“Construction work is deadline-driven and the temptation is to take shortcuts and just get the work done as soon as possible.

“However, if you’re using make-shift work platforms and working without protection, you’re endangering your life.

“Even if the work is only going to take five minutes, you need to have some means of protecting yourself. Given the availability of cheap, fit-for-purpose, work platforms, there’s no excuse for cutting corners and using make-shift alternatives.

“People think they’re going to save themselves time by just getting in there and finishing the job. It goes without saying that getting the job done isn’t as important as protecting yourself and your workers from serious injury or death,” Mr Webb said.

Thursday’s incident was the second significant fall from height in Victoria last week – on Tuesday, a man pruning a tree at a Bridge Creek camping site sustained serious injuries after falling 15 metres. WorkSafe is investigating the incident.