Court Summary - at a glance

Date of offence:
10 September 2015
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Final decision date:
 
Fine imposed:
$42,000

Safety lessons learned:
  1. Ensure that scaffold is configured so as to comply with 6.3.2 of the Guidelines for Scaffolding;
  2. Ensure that missing sections of the Guardrail are reinstated – this resulted in an opening through which a roof worker could pass through inadvertently;
  3. Prevent workers on site from working on the roof until such time as the altered, and then reinstated, scaffold had been inspected and declared safe for use; and
  4. Inspect the scaffold after it is altered.

Defendant name:
Priority One Construction 2012 Limited
 
Industry:
Building and construction
 
Date of offence:
10 September 2015
 
Facts in brief:
The Defendant company was engaged as a contractor to construct a shed. The Defendant engaged Architectural Metalformers Limited (AML) to install the roof and guttering for the shed.

The victim was an employee of AML. This was his first roofing job. The Defendant had installed scaffolding. Mr Syron, a self-employed builder engaged to assist with the shed, had altered the scaffolding by lowering the platform so that he could fit fascia boards. Mr Syron was not instructed to reinstate the scaffold back to the original level. The victim was tasked with removing protective plastic from the roof sheets and was working on a steep section of the roof while it was raining. He slipped and fell approximately 4.5 m through a gap left in the scaffold by one of the missing sections of guardrail.

The victim suffered a dislocated right wrist and multiple fractures to his right arm and elbow.
 
Related prosecutions:
 
Offence section:
Sections 18(1)(a) and 50(1)(a) of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992
 
Date(s) charged:

Court:
Whangarei - District Court
 
Plea:
Guilty
 
Final decision date:
 
Decision:
Convicted
 
Fine imposed:
$42,000
 
Maximum fine available:
$250,000
 
Reparation:
$8,924 (total reparation order of $17,882.21 to be paid half by the company and Mr Syron)
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