Prosecution Details

Being a self employed person at a workplace, failed to ensure that debris from first and subsequent storeys at the workplace was removed by means of a hoisting appliance or a completely enclosed chute.

The defendant was a self employed roofing plumber and was engaged as a subcontractor to do work on a three storey block of flats.

The work included removing and replacing existing guttering and down pipes. A WorkSafe Inspector inspected the site and found that the defendant and another plumber threw lengths of guttering from the roof to the ground below. The roof height was found to be 8 metres and the lengths of guttering found on the ground were 290mm wide and of varying lengths, the longest being 8metres. The lengths of guttering were thrown from the roof into an area adjacent to a playground area in the flat complex. There was no bunting to keep people out of the area where the guttering was thrown and there was no spotter on the ground.

The defendant was convicted in his absence by application of section 136AA of the Justices Act 1902.