Iron Up Australia Pty. Ltd., a construction company that performs carpentry and framing work, has been convicted and fined $60,000 after a contractor was seriously injured in a fall.
In August 2022 Iron Up Australia was engaged to supply and install steel framing in two new two storey residences in Mount Waverley. Iron Up Australia in turn engaged individual contractors to carry out its work on the construction.
In January 2023 four of the contractors were tasked with installing yellow tongue flooring and steel framing on the upper floor of both residences. A steel frame which had not been installed yet fell over and made contact with one of the contractors, causing him to fall from the upper floor onto the ground - the steel frame then fell onto him.
The contractor sustained multiple fractures to both arms and his nose. He has since had two surgeries on one arm, with plates and a rod inserted. He will require further surgery in the future. The incident has led to severe physical, psychological and financial difficulties for the contactor.
On the day of the incident WorkSafe attended the workplace and observed that the contractor fell from a height of 3.23 metres, there was no fall protection installed on the upper floor, no window or stair void protection was provided, and the Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) was neither signed nor adequate.
Iron Up Australia was charged with failure to install a guard rail system, failure to install stair void protections, and failure to have a SWMS in place for the installation work which identified what control measures were required, and who was responsible for ensuring they were implemented.
During the investigation it came to light that one of the contractors had been instructed to commence work despite raising an issue about the absence of fall protection. It was also revealed that Iron Up Australia's director had met with WorkSafe just weeks before the incident about a similar failure to control the same risk in the same way.
Iron Up Australia promptly complied with remedial notices to remedy their failures, indicating that the control measures could have easily been implemented prior to work commencing.
Read more: Prosecution Result Summaries and Enforceable Undertakings | WorkSafe Victoria
