Construction company fined $300,000 over worker’s death

Department of Customer Service

A construction company that employed an unqualified worker who was crushed to death at a worksite has been fined $300,000 after pleading guilty to breaching the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 in court.

SafeWork NSW brought legal proceedings against WY Constructions Pty Ltd in the District Court of NSW after the death of a 48-year-old worker, during demolition work at a Strathfield residential construction site in December 2017.

The worker died after she was instructed to help demolish a chimney manually and then was struck by the falling chimney and buried in the brickwork.

The worker was not experienced in demolition work and did not hold a Construction Industry Induction Card.

WY Constructions did not provide adequate information, instruction and training to workers undertaking demolition work or have appropriate systems of work in place for the work.

Valerie Griswold, SafeWork NSW Executive Director of Investigation and Enforcement, said it was important that any demolition work was carefully planned before the work started so it could be carried out safely.

“Planning a demolition involves identifying hazards, assessing risks and determining appropriate control measures,” Ms Griswold said.

WY Constructions Pty Ltd was convicted and ordered to pay a fine of $300,000.

The company was also ordered to undertake and fund the production of a de-identified SafeWork NSW educative animated video that illustrates the incident, highlights the dangers of it, as well as illustrating the systems that may have reduced those dangers and guidance material relevant to the incident.

The company has the right to appeal against the decision.

/Public Release.