Coconut PT Pty Ltd was sentenced ex parte in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Thursday 11 September after being found guilty of failing to ensure work was carried out from a complete scaffold, and failing to ensure high-risk construction work was performed in accordance with a safe work method statement (SWMS).
The company was also ordered to pay $5,276 in costs.
The court heard Coconut PT was engaged to perform steel fixing works inside a jumpform, which included a scaffold system consisting of hanger brackets and planks that created temporary walking platforms. The certified design of the scaffold required the hangers to be fixed to wall forms with nails.
In May 2023, a worker was walking across the platform when it failed. He fell more than two metres to the jumpform floor, and the plank he had been standing on landed on top of him.
The worker was transported to hospital with a fractured lower back and spine, a fractured knee and a torn knee ligament.
WorkSafe's investigation found the scaffold was incomplete due to hanger brackets not being securely fixed to the wall form - some had only a single nail or no nail at all - and because the scaffold had no perimeter protection in the form of handrails installed.
The court found it was reasonably practicable for Coconut PT to ensure no work occurred on an incomplete scaffold, and that high-risk construction work was performed in accordance with the prepared SWMS which required perimeter protection such as handrails.
WorkSafe Chief Health and Safety Officer Sam Jenkin said bringing down injuries and deaths in the construction industry was a major focus of WorkSafe's strategic approach to reducing workplace harm.
"Each year hundreds of construction workers are seriously injured or killed in incidents that could've been avoided with the right safety measures in place - including the adequate use of fall prevention measures and safe work method statements."
"WorkSafe will continue to take the strongest possible enforcement action against employers who don't take their obligations seriously and allow workers pay the price for their safety failures."
