$125,000 fine after three workers fall in formwork collapse
15 Oct 2024•BlueSafe Team•Source: WorkSafe VIC
Valmont (Vic) Pty Ltd has been fined $125,000 after a formwork collapse sent three workers falling more than two metres at a Sunshine construction site. Two workers suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospital.
The Sunshine Magistrates' Court sentenced Valmont on Thursday 3 October after finding it guilty of two charges. These concerned failing to provide and maintain a safe system of work, and failing to ensure a workplace under its management or control was safe and without risks to health. The fine was imposed without conviction, and the company was also ordered to pay $42,752 in costs.
Valmont had been engaged to turn level two of a multistorey car park in Clarke Street, Sunshine, into offices. The project required removing a ramp between levels one and two, installing structural steel and formwork, and filling the resulting void with concrete to complete the office floor.
During the concrete pour in July 2019, a steel beam connecting the formwork to the existing slab broke away. Part of the formwork collapsed, sending the three workers to the level below.
WorkSafe's investigation found Valmont had not organised an inspection of the formwork by a building surveyor or engineer before pouring the concrete.
The court found it was reasonably practicable for the company to arrange a pre-pour inspection and obtain a written report certifying that the formwork was structurally sound enough to support the pour.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said formwork could involve high-risk work and there was no excuse for leaving out important safety processes.
"Having a competent person inspect formwork before a concrete pour begins is a crucial step designed to avoid exactly this kind of disastrous scenario," Mr Jenkin said. "In this case two workers were injured and it could very easily have been much, much worse."
How Blue Safe can help: Our free SWMS tool can help you document task-specific hazards and controls for high-risk construction work, including work involving fall risks. Create a free SWMS