A Sydney construction company Romanous Contractors was fined $425,000 in the second largest work health and safety fine in NSW history following the death of a bricklayer on a Hurstville construction site in 2014.
Executive Director of SafeWork NSW, Peter Dunphy said: “Romanous were aware of the risk and how to address it after being directed on numerous occasions by SafeWork NSW inspectors to securely cover unguarded penetrations at the site.
“Despite this, Romanous Contractors chose not to and our investigation found that at least four other workers could have fallen through the penetration before the bricklayer fell to his death.
In 2013/14 there were more than 30,000 injuries and 67 fatalities in NSW workplaces with the construction industry accounting for more than 10% of all injuries.
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