A construction company’s OHS manager has been placed on a diversion plan after acknowledging that multiple actions he took following a workplace fall represented a failure to take reasonable care for four workers’ safety, including his own.
The Saw Constructions Pty Ltd employee was accused of breaching section 25 (“Duties of employees”) of the Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 by instructing colleagues to climb unsafe incomplete scaffolding at a Saw construction site in Keysborough, install bunting around the fall location, identify and repair structural defects, and reinstall absent components.
The Dandenong Magistrates Court heard that in February 2023, a WW Masonry Pty Ltd subcontractor employee was laying bricks from the scaffolding system’s second level at the site when he attempted climbing down the structure’s side rails and fell two metres, landing headfirst and sustaining spinal and lung injuries.
The site supervisor telephoned Saw’s OHS manager, who was off-site, to report the incident, and the OHS manager issued instructions for three colleagues to ascend and perform tasks on the scaffold, which was incomplete, missing guardrails, kickboards, lapboards and ties.
Approximately 10 minutes later, the OHS manager arrived on-site and also climbed onto the scaffold, assisting with bunting installation and other tasks.
Clause 118(a) of the State Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 prohibits task performance on incomplete scaffolding, except for “the work of erecting or dismantling the scaffold”.
The Court permitted the OHS manager to enter the diversion plan—involving a 12-month good behaviour bond and a $5,420 costs order—after he admitted the case facts and that his failures endangered himself and others.
(Victoria’s criminal justice diversion plan process allows predominantly first-time offenders to avoid criminal records and adverse publicity by agreeing to conditions benefiting the offender, victims or the community.)
WW Masonry was also charged over the fall and fined a total of $32,500 (plus $5,023 in costs) in July this year for failing to ensure no bricklaying work occurred from the incomplete scaffolding and failing to fully comply with a WorkSafe Victoria improvement notice requiring it to revise its safe work method statement for the Keysborough site.
South Australia aligns high-risk construction work definition
The South Australian Government is amending the “high-risk construction work” definition in clause 291 of the State Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 to align it with the definition used in all other harmonised jurisdictions and Victoria.
As reported by OHS Alert 13 years ago, numerous provisions of South Australia’s draft mirror versions of the national model WHS Act and Regulations were amended under a deal with crossbench MLCs to pass the legislation through Parliament (see related article).
The changes included redefining high-risk construction work as construction work involving the risk of a person falling more than three metres, instead of two metres.
This extra height was intended to reduce the industry’s WHS compliance costs by reducing the number of projects needing to adhere to extra safety requirements for high-risk work.
The change aimed to address contentious claims that the new harmonised WHS regime would significantly increase house building costs (see bottom of this related article, for example.)
The current State Government’s Work Health and Safety (High Risk Construction Work) Amendment Regulations 2025 delete three metres from the definition, replacing it with two metres.
The change takes effect on 1 July 2026.
SafeWork conducts largest blitz since July independence
Some 250 SafeWork NSW inspectors conducted 570 unannounced workplace visits across a three-day period in October, issuing a total of 736 non-compliance notices to 261 employers across the State, the regulator has revealed.
It said this was the largest blitz it had conducted since becoming a standalone regulator on 1 July.
The blitz followed its mid-July campaign, which was its biggest blitz in a decade (see related article).
Of the 736 non-compliance notices, 209 involved working at height risks and 175 related to mobile plant, vehicle and fixed machinery operation.
Some businesses were handed on-the-spot fines relating to unlicensed forklift operation, and a number of improvement notices pertained to workers being exposed to uncapped steel rods embedded in concrete.
Inspectors also carried out 228 psychosocial checks, which involved holding targeted conversations with employers and workers on psychosocial hazards and the steps needed to eliminate or reduce the risks.
“Compliance blitzes like this one are an important part of SafeWork NSW’s strategy to proactively address high-risk activities across the State,” SafeWork Commissioner Janet Schorer said.
“They strengthen SafeWork NSW’s regulatory presence and reinforce the message that all businesses, large and small, must prioritise worker safety every day of the week,” she said.
