An owner-builder has been sentenced to a fine of $15,000 after multiple failures to ensure that his worksite remained safe and that contractors performed their work in a safe manner.
In November 2024 a WorkSafe inspector visited a double-storey residential construction workplace where three workers, including an apprentice, were seen standing on the first-floor roof, performing roof plumbing works, with no protection from the risk of falling from heights.
Upon making enquiries, the inspector found that the property’s owner/builder was in control of the worksite and had engaged the plumbing business to provide services. The owner/builder was aware that no fall protections were in place and that the contracted work required work at heights.
Four months before the inspector’s visit, the owner/builder had been visited by another WorkSafe inspector who had issued three improvement notices after observing carpentry work being carried out on the workplace’s first floor, in the absence of fall prevention devices around the stair void, window gaps and balcony edge.
In sentencing the owner/builder the Court noted that at every workplace safety must come first and that the community (including owner-builders) must be sent a message that the failure to protect workers will not be tolerated.
The Court noted that the owner/builder operated with blatant disregard of his obligations to ensure that the workplace remained safe. Due to his engagement with WorkSafe four months prior to the offending, involving the failure to control the same risk at the same workplace, the owner/builder had qualified knowledge of these obligations, which is an aggravating feature of this offending.
The owner/builder’s choice to be involved as owner/builder of the project did not absolve him from his OHS obligations, because he maintained control of the site. The fact that the roof plumbing work had been assigned to a subcontractor did not absolve the owner/builder from liability either, particularly because he had made no enquiries with the plumbing contractor to ensure that fall protection had been installed prior to the plumbing works commencing.
Inherently dangerous activities such as working at heights at construction sites can never be only about the wish to keep costs down.
WorkSafe publishes resources guiding duty holders in maintaining safe workplaces and managing high risk activities such as working at heights:
- Build Aware | WorkSafe Victoria
- The pocket guide for construction safety (PDF version) | WorkSafe Victoria
Read more: Prosecution Result Summaries and Enforceable Undertakings | WorkSafe Victoria