The defendant was the director of a company that was building six units in Hillarys and was responsible for the day to day construction operations at the site. The units were two storeys with undercroft garages. The defendant admitted rearranging scaffolding to the front of units 1, 2 and 3. The scaffolding was erected on top of the undercroft garages of the units. The fall distance from the working platform of the scaffolding to the ground was measured to be 5.57 metres. The defendant did not hold a certificate of competency in relation to the scaffolding as required by the National Occupational Health and Safety Certification Standard for Users and Operators of Industrial Equipment (NOHSC: 1006 (1995)]. The standard requires that any erection, alteration or dismantling of scaffolding from which a person could fall four or more metres be done by the holder of a certificate of competency. The scaffold was not constructed in accordance with Australian and New Zealand Standard 1576 in that braces were missing, guardrails were wired on, planks were missing and there was no access to the scaffold. The defendant pleaded guilty.
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