Building firm fined after worker falls from roof

A conviction and fine has been handed to a building group after one of its workers fell from a roof at a two-storey house in Warrnambool in Victoria.

Concord Builders Group Pty Ltd was convicted and fined $70,000, as well as being ordered to pay $5577 in costs.

It was found guilty of two contraventions of the OHS Act for failing to ensure it provided, as far as reasonably practicable, a workplace that was safe and without risk to health.

The Warrnambool Magistrates’ Court heard that two Concord Builders Group employees were installing solar panels on the roof of the property in January 2017 when one fell five metres onto the front lawn. The worker received broken ribs and neck injuries.

A WorkSafe Victoria investigation found there was no evidence of fall protection being used for work within two metres of the roof edge, and no Safe Work Method Statement was in place for the high-risk work.

The court ruling follows the deaths of two workers from falls at separate residential construction sites in August.

A man in his 30s died when he fell into a deep trench at a housing estate at Wallan on 16 August, and a man in his 40s died in hospital after falling through a stair void at a housing construction site at Rosebud on 18 August.

WorkSafe Acting Director of Health and Safety Paul Fowler said the organisation would continue to actively pursue employers who ignored the risks of falls from height.

“As we have seen recently and consistently over a number of years, the risk of falls on construction sites is real, and the consequences are both heartbreaking and life-altering,” Fowler said.

“This fine and conviction should serve as a warning to all employers that failing to protect workers who are required to operate at height is simply inexcusable.”

According to WorkSafe, to prevent falls employers can eliminate the risk by doing all or some of the work on the ground or from a solid construction. They can also:

• use fall prevention devices such as scaffolds, perimeter screens, guardrails, elevated work platforms or safety mesh;
• use travel-restraint systems, industrial rope-access systems, catch platforms and fall arrest harness systems;
• use suitable equipment for working at height. A step platform with handrails provides a larger, more stable surface than a ladder.
   

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