Construction companies fined over safety incidents

Two construction companies have been fined over workplace incidents that resulted in a boy’s death and a worker who was trapped under a fallen concrete staircase.

Joshua Field, 12, climbed into the roof area of a building and was killed after he fell and was struck by a falling beam in May 2022.

He had accessed a construction site in Perth’s southeast through an open gate with a group of children.

His family had to make the heartbreaking decision to switch off his life support after he was rushed to the Perth Children’s Hospital, 7News reported at the time.

PTG Construction was responsible for the site and had been building five single storey residential units in Maddington, near high density housing where families with young children lived.

PTG Construction and Development pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to ensure a workplace they were in control of was secured from unauthorised access.

The company was fined $18,000 and ordered to pay $1500 in costs this week in the Armadale Magistrates Court.

In a separate incident, Merym Pty Ltd trading as EMCO Building, was found guilty of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace after a subcontractor became trapped under a concrete staircase that collapsed on him.

In April 2019, bricklayers employed by Swinging Bricklayers had removed steel props that were supporting the staircase to construct a load bearing wall under the recently formed concrete stairs.

Merym was fined $450,000 for causing serious harm and $35,000 in court costs in the Perth Magistrates Court.

Swinging Bricklayers were also fined $600,000 and ordered to pay $5000 in costs in February 2023.

WorkSafe commissioner Sally North said a wide range of safety risks could be present on construction sites and the two cases illustrated the point.

“In the case against Merym Pty Ltd, the company was the principal contractor and it changed the stairs from a pre-cast staircase that was assembled off-site then installed on pre-built load bearing brick walls to a staircase that was moulded and poured on-site with the brick walls built underneath when the formwork was removed,” she said.

“The bricklayers had little or no experience of working with this type of staircase and were not warned to avoid removing the props because they were holding up the stairs.

“The job was lacking in risk assessment, communication and instruction, and both companies involved in the incident have now been held to account.”

Ms North said the case against PTG Construction and Development illustrated the importance of site security in protecting the public from the hazards of a construction site.

“In this case security gates were present, but they were frequently left open after hours when the site was left unattended because PTG did not have a system in place to ensure the gate was closed and locked when the site was unattended,” she said.

“WA’s workplace health and safety laws require that the person in control of a construction site must ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace is secured from unauthorised access.”