Builder fined $65,000 over scaffolding centimetres from live power
18 Mar 2025•BlueSafe Team•Source: WorkSafe VIC
Willoworks Pty Ltd has been fined $65,000 after scaffolding at an Elwood townhouse development was found within 10 centimetres of a live power cable. Two workers were directed to leave the site immediately because of the electrocution risk.
The Melbourne Magistrates’ Court sentenced Willoworks on Thursday 6 March after the company pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to ensure a workplace under its management and control was safe and without risks to health. It was also ordered to pay $4,210 in costs.
The court heard the company was building four triple-storey townhouses in Elwood and had hired a subcontractor to erect scaffolding in January 2023. During an April 2023 site visit, a WorkSafe inspector found metal scaffolding within 10 centimetres of a power service cable. An orange bollard marked “danger live power” had been placed over the cable.
The inspector directed two workers to leave immediately. WorkSafe’s investigation established that the cable had been live since August 2022 and that the local power company had received no application from Willoworks for the permit required to work in a No-Go-Zone, within 4.6 metres of a live power line.
Investigators found Willoworks had also failed to follow its Safe Work Method Statement. The statement identified the danger of scaffolding near power lines and required the electricity to be isolated or No-Go-Zone rules to be implemented.
Before work started, Willoworks could reasonably practicably have reduced the electrocution risk by obtaining a No-Go-Zone permit and implementing its conditions, or by having the service cable de-energised.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said the failure to address the electrocution risk could have been deadly. He said the hazard had been identified, but the safety measures set out in the company’s Safe Work Method Statement had not been taken.
“Workplace safety is not about ticking boxes – in this case the failure to manage the risk could have easily resulted in serious injury or death.”
Scaff Right Scaffolding Pty Ltd, the scaffolding contractor engaged by Willoworks, has also been charged over the incident and is due to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 26 March.
How Blue Safe can help: Our free SWMS tool can help you prepare a task-specific Safe Work Method Statement for scaffolding work, including identifying hazards and documenting controls for work near power lines. Create a free SWMS