EJ Lyons & Sons Pty Ltd (trading as Lyons Construction) is a Geelong-based commercial construction company. From 2021 Lyons Construction was the principal contractor for a multi-level construction project on Moorabool Street in the Geelong CBD.
On 28 December 2022 a section of hoarding 20m long and 3.5m high section of hoarding at the front of the site collapsed onto the pedestrian footpath, damaging three parked cars and narrowly missing a pedestrian. The Geelong Magistrates’ Court has imposed a fine on the company of $25,000.
Lyons Construction engaged a scaffolding company to supply and erect scaffolding at the workplace, initially including hoarding to be attached to the scaffolding. A decision was made to remove the hoarding from the scaffolding plans, and a separate contractor was engaged to install the hoarding.
In December 2021 the scaffold company raised concerns that the hoarding was attached to the scaffold which was not designed or engineered to hold or support it. They requested Lyons construction remove the hoarding as it did not comply with the current scaffold engineering certification. They also recommended that an engineer be engaged in relation to bracing the hoarding to protect the public and workers.
In December 2022 the scaffold company removed the scaffold, requesting that the hoarding be untied from the scaffolding and advising that the hoarding needed to be secured. Two days later the site shut down for the year, the site was cleaned up and secured, including 16 mesh panels which were dismantled and stored behind and against the hoarding.
Six days later the hoarding collapsed. At the time of the collapse, there was no construction work occurring or employees present at the workplace due to the shutdown period however, there was a volume of pedestrian and vehicular traffic due to its location on a main street.
Despite being warned one year earlier and again eight days prior to the collapse, Lyons Construction did not undertake any reviews of the hazard, nor did they seek advice from a suitably qualified structural engineer.
The likelihood of this risk eventuating and the degree of harm was evident and was high. The ability to eliminate/reduce the risk and the cost to do so, are both factors that appear to have been achievable practically and financially.
Read more: Prosecution Result Summaries and Enforceable Undertakings | WorkSafe Victoria