Two construction companies have been fined a total of $468,000 (and ordered to pay a total of $36,500 in costs) in relation to separate matters for breaches of workplace health and safety laws.

Merym Pty Ltd (trading as EMCO Building) was found guilty of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and, by that failure, causing serious harm and was fined $450,000 (and ordered to pay $35,000 in costs) in the Perth Magistrates Court last week.

In April 2019, Merym was the principal contractor engaged for construction of a secondary school in Alkimos where a worker suffered serious injuries when a concrete staircase collapsed on him.

Bricklayers employed by Swinging Bricklayers Pty Ltd, a sub-contractor of Merym, had removed steel props that were supporting the staircase in order to construct a load bearing wall under the recently formed concrete stairs. Swinging Bricklayers was fined $600,000 (and ordered to pay $5000 in costs) over the incident in February 2023.

Another construction company – PTG Construction and Development - pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, that a workplace they were in control of was secured from unauthorised access and was fined $18,000 (and ordered to pay $1500 in costs) in the Armadale Magistrates Court on Monday.

In May 2022, PTG Construction was engaged in building five single storey residential units in Gosnells Road West, Maddington, near high density housing where families with young children lived.

On the evening of May 9, a group of children accessed the PTG construction site through an open gate. A 12-year-old boy who had been climbing in the roof area of the building lost his life when he fell and was struck by a falling lintel.

WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North said today that a wide range of safety risks could be present on construction sites.

“These two very different cases illustrate that a range of risks can exist on construction sites,” Ms North said.

“In the case against Merym Pty Ltd, the company was the principal contractor and it changed the stairs from a pre-cast staircase that was assembled off-site then installed on pre-built load bearing brick walls to a staircase that was moulded and poured on-site with the brick walls built underneath when the formwork was removed.

“The bricklayers had little or no experience of working with this type of staircase and were not warned to avoid removing the props because they were holding up the stairs.

“The job was lacking in risk assessment, communication and instruction, and both companies involved in the incident have now been held to account.

“The case against PTG Construction and Development illustrates the importance of site security in protecting the public from the hazards of a construction site.

“In this case security gates were present, but they were frequently left open after hours when the site was left unattended because PTG did not have a system in place to ensure the gate was closed and locked when the site was unattended.

“WA’s workplace health and safety laws require that the person in control of a construction site must ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace is secured from unauthorised access.

“WorkSafe is currently conducting a proactive inspection program to look at site security issues on metropolitan and regional construction sites with the aim of making employers fully aware of the risks and supplying them with information on how to lessen those risks.”

Media Contact: Caroline De Vaney, 0408 927563 (media enquiries only).

caroline.devaney@demirs.wa.gov.au