$60,000 fine after worker falls through incomplete scaffold
04 Oct 2025•BlueSafe Team•Source: WorkSafe VIC
Coconut PT Pty Ltd has been fined $60,000 after a worker fell more than two metres through an incomplete scaffold and suffered serious back and knee injuries.
The Melbourne Magistrates’ Court sentenced the company ex parte on Thursday 11 September. It was found guilty of failing to ensure work was carried out from a complete scaffold and failing to ensure high-risk construction work followed a safe work method statement (SWMS). The company was also ordered to pay $5,276 in costs.
The court heard Coconut PT had been engaged for steel fixing inside a jumpform. Its scaffold system used hanger brackets and planks to form temporary walking platforms, with the certified design requiring the hangers to be nailed to wall forms.
In May 2023, a platform failed as a worker walked across it. He fell more than two metres onto the jumpform floor, with the plank he had been standing on falling on top of him. He was taken to hospital with fractures to his lower back, spine and knee, and a torn knee ligament.
WorkSafe’s investigation identified unsecured hanger brackets, some attached with just one nail and others with none. The scaffold also lacked perimeter protection in the form of handrails.
The court found Coconut PT could reasonably practicably have ensured work did not take place on an incomplete scaffold. It also found the company could have ensured the high-risk construction work followed the prepared SWMS, which required perimeter protection such as handrails.
WorkSafe Chief Health and Safety Officer Sam Jenkin said reducing construction industry injuries and deaths was a major focus of the regulator’s strategy to reduce workplace harm.
“Each year hundreds of construction workers are seriously injured or killed in incidents that could’ve been avoided with the right safety measures in place - including the adequate use of fall prevention measures and safe work method statements."
Mr Jenkin said WorkSafe would continue taking the strongest possible enforcement action against employers who failed to take their obligations seriously and allowed workers to bear the consequences of their safety failures.
How Blue Safe can help: Our free SWMS tool can help you document hazards and control measures for high-risk construction work, including work involving scaffolds and falls. Create a free SWMS