Following the death of an employee in a stair void fall, sole-trader carpenter Anthony Basa has received a one-year Community Corrections Order and must complete 100 hours of community work and pay a fine of $10,000. The sole-trader, training as Big Basa Construction, will not have a conviction recorded against him. The principal contractor on the worksite, Pearl Construction Group, is yet to enter a plea to the charges it is facing in relation to the incident.
In 2022 Big Basa Construction was sub-contracted by Pearl Construction Group to build frames and erect roof trusses on a multi-storey townhouse development in Glen Waverley. Mr Basa engaged 23-year-old Zach Rolph to assist him on site.
In September that year Mr Rolph was carrying lengths of steel along the first floor when he fell through an unprotected open stair void to the concrete below. He sustained serious head injuries as a result of the three metre fall. CCTV footage and audio partially captured his fall. Mr Rolph remained in a critical condition until he passed away in hospital ten days later.
WorkSafe’s investigation revealed that the specialist company that Pearl Construction had engaged to cover voids on the first floor of each unit could not install the covers for another eight weeks, delaying the development. Pearl Construction then engaged Big Basa Construction to partly cover each void with temporary flooring (leaving a metre-wide gap to allow workers to access the first floor from the ground floor), but perimeter guarding was not installed around the voids. The Court noted that Pearl Construction representatives regularly visited the site and should have identified the unprotected voids.
Falls from heights is a notorious hazard in the construction industry. WorkSafe provides ample guidance and free assistance for employers to ensure they understand the risks inherent to their work. When WorkSafe attended the site after the incident they found no guard-rails installed around stair voids and that the ladder used for access to the first floor was inadequate.
It was reasonably practicable for both the principal contractor and the carpenter to eliminate or reduce the risk of death or serious injury due to a fall by installing perimeter guard rails around stair voids, and by using a ladder that extended at least 90 centimetres past the first floor and was securely fastened at the top and bottom.
The court heard that Mr Basa closed his business after being charged and now works as an employed carpenter for a modest wage.
The Court also noted that Mr Basa was a young man, was genuinely remorseful for his role in the death of Mr Rolph and had given an undertaking to the Court to give evidence against the principal contracting company Pearl Construction Group, which is also facing charges stemming from Mr Rolph’s death.
Read more: Sole trader sentenced to corrections order after fatal fall | WorkSafe Victoria