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Canberra Today 27°/28° | Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Major residential project gets hit with big fines

WORKSAFE ACT has issued a number of fines as well as Prohibition and Improvement Notices following safety concerns on a major Gungahlin residential construction project. 

ACT Work Safety commissioner Greg Jones.
A Prohibition Notice and two Improvement Notices were issued to the head contractor of the site and an additional Improvement Notice was issued to a scaffolding subcontractor.

Fines totalling $28,800 were also issued to the head contractor.

WorkSafe ACT says the incident related to a large section of assembled scaffolding that was being removed from the outside of the building by crane. The large load was not appropriately controlled, which caused significant safety issues for workers in the vicinity. 

The section of scaffolding while being lifted by crane rotated and made contact with the side of the building causing some damage. Further, a board from the scaffold section dislodged and fell onto a platform below.

While no workers were injured in the incident, Work Safety commissioner Greg Jones says this was extremely fortunate noting the circumstances of the incident.

“This incident could have been caused very serious injuries. Of great concern is this incident was easily preventable with proper planning and communication,” he says. 

“Also of significant concern was that the site was not preserved following the notifiable incident and work continued. This is not acceptable and this has been strongly conveyed to the head contractor.”

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

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