Sanctions accepted over residential construction fall

​A Darwin construction company and its director will have charges withdrawn after NT WorkSafe accepted their proposed enforceable undertaking.

ACSM Builders Pty Ltd and company director Sakellarious Athanasiou were both charged with breaching Section 32 of the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act over a 2016 incident which saw a young sub-contractor fall approximately 2.9 meters through a void, breaking his left femur.

ACSM Builders and Mr Athanasiou entered into a legally-binding agreement to spend $209,500 on outcomes that would improve the health and safety of their workers, the NT construction industry and provide benefits to the wider community.

The proposed activities include:

• Employ a dedicated Safety Officer to develop, implement and continually improve appropriate systems of work. This includes monitoring all ACSM Building workers and subcontractors on site.
• Develop the skill set of ACSM Building workers by providing accredited training relevant to the construction industry.
• Improve the company toolbox meetings.
• Purchase two scissor lifts and provide relevant training to reduce the risk of working at heights to ACSM workers.
• Purchase a temporary power site board to reduce the risk of electric shocks.
• Fund the training in Certificate IV in OH&S for at least one worker to support the Safety Officer.
• Organise an accredited Working at Height course for sub-contractors regularly used by ACSM Building.
• Present a ‘lessons learnt’ to apprentices in the NT construction industry, including details of the incident and the importance of following safety procedures.
• Organise working at heights or basic scaffolding courses for NT construction industry apprentices to supplement their training.
• Sponsor or assist in promoting the importance of fall protection in the construction industry during Safe Work Month 2018 or 2019.
• Donate $10,000 to CareFlight.
• Mentor and provide information to local people and subcontractors on working at height techniques and fall protection when working in remote communities.

Executive Director of NT WorkSafe Stephen Gelding said Mr Athanasiou has expressed sincere regret that a young subcontractor was injured at one of his worksites.

“The company has already implemented a number of changes costing over $10,000 to improve safety since the incident occurred,” Mr Gelding said.

“The accepted undertaking contained a number of activities aimed at improving the safety and building the capacity of young Territorians working in the construction industry, which would not be available through a court imposed penalty.”