Building contractor fined $47,500

Ref: Construction contractor.
16 June 2009

An Adelaide company has been convicted and fined $47,500 in the South
Australian Industrial Relations Court over an incident which left an employee
seriously injured after a fall.

On June 12, Candetti Constructions was convicted after being found guilty in
an earlier trial of breaching section 19(1) of the Occupational Health Safety
and Welfare Act 1986 in failing to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable,
the safety of an employee.

The incident occurred in April 2005 during work to install cool room panels
at a Gepps Cross premises. A man employed by a subcontractor to the
defendant fell 7.2m through an opening in a suspended ceiling to the
concrete floor below.

He suffered fractures to his pelvis and wrist, nerve damage, severe bruising,
broken teeth and a lacerated forehead.

SafeWork SA found that the opening in the ceiling was completely unprotected
at the time and the Industrial Magistrate, Richard Hardy, said the
defendant didn't carry far enough the safety measures it had already
identified regarding fall protection.

In August 2007, the injured worker's direct employer, Ace Panel Systems,
was fined $33,000