A massive scaffolding collapse on a busy Melbourne shopping strip could have claimed the lives of dozens of people, a court has heard.
The multi-level scaffolding came crashing down on Commercial Road, near Grattan Street, in Prahran on February 23, 2009, injuring three construction workers, one seriously, and just missing passers-by.
Dramatic footage captured by a security camera reveals how close a bus, two cyclists and a pedestrian came to being caught up in the collapse.
The accident, that happened during the construction of boutique art hotel The Cullen, damaged parked cars, tore down power lines and closed the busy road.
Asia Pacific Building Corporation, the hotel's developer and the company in charge of managing the site, today pleaded guilty in Melbourne Magistrates Court to two charges relating to workplace safety breaches.
WorkSafe Victoria prosecutor Ruth Shann said the accident had the potential to cause dozens of deaths and it was lucky that most of the site's workers were on a break when the scaffolding caved about 10am.
"If it weren't for smoko there would have been a lot of workers back on that structure," she said.
Three bricklayers working at the time of the accident were taken to hospital, the most seriously injured
suffered broken ribs, a punctured lung, a fractured shoulder blade, broken neck bones and chipped bones near his spine after falling debris caused him to fall through a window opening and on to a concrete floor.
Another of the injured workers, who had to have plastic surgery on his finger, managed to ride the scaffolding to the ground as it crumpled.
The court heard the collapse had been caused by an overloading of bricks on scaffold bays and alterations made to the scaffold structure's original design.
Ms Shann said SMS Scaffolding, that was employed by Asia Pacific to construct the scaffolding, had reduced the width of some platforms from five to three boards and made changes that meant it no longer complied with Australian standards.
Scaffolding bays were found loaded with brick stacks weighing up to three times the safe limit.
Bricklaying company EGI pleaded guilty and was fined $100,000 last November for its role in overloading the scaffolding. SMS' case has not yet been heard.
Michael Croucher, SC, for Asia Pacific, said the company had not been aware of the dangerous work practices at the site but took responsibility as head contractor.
"You have to wear ... these sorts of consequences," he said.
He agreed that three workers directly employed by Asia Pacific had been at the site, including one responsible for occupational health and safety.
Mr Croucher said while the company's safety procedures had proved to be inadequate, there had been systems in place and the family building business, that began in 1867 and had a good record, was in no way a "slipshod operation".
Asia Pacific chair David Deague was in court and Mr Croucher said he and the company took "the incident very seriously".
The court heard Mr Deague and family members had been devastated by the accident and the company had since improved its safety policies.
Ms Shann said Asia Pacific's role had been to coordinate the contractors on site and the safety breaches had had been "serious examples of very serious offences".
"They ought to have been all over their obligations, ensuring they were actually implemented at every site," she said.
Magistrate Jan Maclean agreed it was lucky that no one had died in the accident.
"It was a fortuitous event indeed that no one was killed," she said.
She will hand down her sentence next week.
Each charge faced by Asia Pacific carries a maximum fine of more than $1 million but as the case is being heard at the Magistrates Court, the highest penalty that could be imposed would be just over $280,000.