WorkSafe Victoria | A residential construction company has been convicted and fined $40,000 over the risk of a fall from height on a building site in Geelong.
Desbo Industries Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Geelong Magistrates’ Court after earlier pleading guilty to a single charge of failing to ensure a workplace under its management and control was safe and without risks to heath.
The company was also ordered to pay costs of $4,422.
The court heard the company was engaged as the principal contractor to construct a two-storey residence in the suburb of Grovedale.
In October 2024, a WorkSafe inspector attended the workplace following a report of unsafe work at height practices and observed two contractors installing flooring sheets on the first floor, more than three metres from the ground, without fall protection in place.
Access to the first floor was via an extension ladder in the stair void, where an incomplete attempt had been made to create an exclusion zone using tape.
An investigation revealed the company had three prior interactions with WorkSafe between 2020 and 2024 in relation to the risk of serious injury or death from a fall from height greater than two metres due to inadequate or the absence of any fall protection.
Desbo accepted it was reasonably practicable to reduce the risk at the Grovedale site by restricting access to the first floor until suitable and compliant perimeter guard railing was installed around the perimeter edge and stair void.
