Prosecution Details

[1] Being a self-employed person at a workplace where demolition work other than specified demolition work was being done, failed to ensure that the work was done in accordance with AS2601 in that he failed to ensure that the common boundary between the demolition site and a public thoroughfare was fenced with a hoarding.

[2] Being a self-employed person at a workplace where demolition work other than specified demolition work was being done, failed to ensure that at all times when the work was being done a copy of the work plan referred to in AS2601 was kept at the workplace.

The defendant was the 'site supervisor' for a demolition site in West Perth. The structure being demolished consisted of concrete wall members, brick wall members, steel roof beams and plate glass. The structure was approximately 7 to 8 metres high.

On 11 April 2000 a canopy directly over a footpath was being demolished. A scissor lift was used to block the footpath, which required pedestrians to walk around it on a busy road. Signs and wood were being removed from the structure and were being thrown onto the footpath by the workers. Later the workers were stripping tin from the facia at the front of the footpath directly above the footpath. Pedestrians were walking under the work as it was being done.

When asked by an inspector to produce the workplan, the defendant produced a document that failed to contain the relevant inforamtion as required by Clause 1.7.3 of Australian Standard 2601 to be included in a work plan.

The defendant pleaded guilty.