10 December 2008 Young worker’s death sends safety message to builders The dangers of inexperienced trainees working without proper supervision on busy construction sites have been tragically highlighted in a NSW Industrial Court Trial over the death of a young worker. WorkCover NSW prosecuted two construction companies and the Director of a third following the death of 24-year-old trainee rigger Mark Gallace at a Chipping Norton construction site on 3 June 2005. Justice Frances Backman described the young man’s death as: “yet another example of the failures of persons entrusted with responsibility for safety at a construction site, to properly discharge their responsibilities, and ensure the safety of persons on site.” Mr Gallace suffered fatal injuries while operating an elevating work platform (EWP) – a machine with which he has little or no familiarity with – alone at a height above seven metres without any supervision from the ground. He had been on the job for only five weeks. Sacco Builders Pty Ltd and Kaydee Engineering Pty Ltd were fined $180,000 each, and the Director of Sydney Metro Cranes Pty Ltd, James William Cunningham, was fined $18,000. All three defendants pleaded guilty to breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000. Sydney Metro Cranes employed Mr Gallace to assist crane drivers by slinging and directing the movement of the crane, as well as tying nuts and bolts to roof beams. Evidence presented by WorkCover NSW described how Mr Gallace’s body was found by his supervisor, Mr Cunningham, pinned between the work platform and a roof beam at a height of over seven metres. When the supervisor used the work platform’s ground controls to try and bring him down, Mr Gallace’s body fell from a height of about six metres. His harness was not attached to the work platform. A post mortem found that his death was due to a combination of head injury and asphyxia. WorkCover NSW CEO Jon Blackwell commented: “It is imperative that safety measures of today’s busy construction sites, occupied by numerous contractors and sub-contractors, must be carefully planned to meet the particular requirements of the workers, the tasks being performed and the nature of the site. “WorkCover will continue to focus on ensuring the safety of young and vulnerable workers in a series of construction industry programs being conducted across NSW between now and Christmas. “These programs will specifically target contractors and sub-contractors employed in scaffolding and electrical work. WorkCover is also leading the push to introduce uniform construction induction procedures across Australia,” he said “It is about encouraging that both Sacco and Kaydee have implemented an impressive number of remedial measures designed to ensure that the circumstances of this tragedy are not repeated,” said Mr Blackwell.