Scaff Right Scaffolding Pty Ltd was engaged by Willoworks Pty Ltd to provide and install scaffold at a project involved in the construction of four triple-storey townhouses in Elwood. Scaff Right further subcontracted the installation of the scaffold to others.
Scaff Right is the second company charged and fined as a result of this breach of electrical No-Go Zone rules. In March this year SafetyNet reported on the case of Willoworks Pty Ltd, a builder and the principal contractor of the Elwood construction project, being fined $65,000 for placing employees at immediate or imminent risk of exposure to an electrocution hazard. Willoworks unsuccessfully appealed their sentence.
In January 2023 a metal scaffold was erected within 100mm of an energised service cable. In the days following, Scaff Right was contacted by the scaffold installer and was advised that Willoworks had placed an orange bollard over the service cable, where it came close to the scaffold. On the bollard, a sign read ‘Danger Live Power’. The service cable remained live and in the vicinity of the scaffold until April 2023, when a WorkSafe inspector attended the site.
Upon observing the metal scaffold and live power service cable, the inspector immediately issued a direction for all workers to leave the site due to their belief that there was an immediate or imminent exposure to an electrocution hazard. Later that day the inspector received confirmation that the service cable had been disconnected. The inspector also learned that no Permit to Work (PTW) had been obtained from the relevant power company as is required for works in a ‘No Go Zone’.
Scaff Right had created a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) for scaffold erection which correctly identified the risk of working in close proximity to power lines and documented the required risk controls. The SWMS included a requirement for Willoworks as the principal contractor to put in place control measures, obtain the required permit to work from the power supplier and to de-energise the line. These controls were not implemented.
The Court noted that it is not sufficient to rely on the representations made by others or to assume that others had done the right thing. Scaff Right had a responsibility to check on the safety compliance of the work they were contracted to deliver. The fragmentation of the construction industry reinforces the need for all those involved in a project to be even more vigilant in their compliance with obligations.
Scaff Right pleaded guilty to its failure to reduce or eliminate the risk of serious injury or death from electrocution if the service cable contacted the scaffold. The company was convicted and fined $25,000.
Read more: Prosecution Result Summaries and Enforceable Undertakings | WorkSafe Victoria