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Company and director charged over electrician’s fatal stair void fall

04 Oct 2025•BlueSafe Team•Source: WorkSafe VIC

Akgul Trade Pty Ltd and its director face charges following the death of a 60-year-old electrician in September 2023. The electrician fell from scaffolding on a building’s third level through an internal stairway void to the concrete floor below.

The company faces one charge under section 26(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act for allegedly failing to ensure a workplace under its management and control was safe and without risks to health.

Its 42-year-old director faces three charges. One is under section 26(1) of the OHS Act and concerns an alleged failure to ensure a workplace under his management and control was safe and without risks to health.

A second charge, under section 144(1), alleges that he was an officer of a company whose breach of section 26(1) was attributable to his failure to take reasonable care.

WorkSafe alleges the company and director failed to reduce the risk of serious injury or death from a fall, so far as was reasonably practicable.

The director’s third charge is under section 24(1) of the OHS Act. It concerns an alleged failure to ensure people were not exposed to health and safety risks arising from the conduct or undertaking of a self-employed person.

It is also alleged that the director breached regulation 118(c) of the OHS Regulations by permitting workers to access the scaffold after he became aware, following the fatal incident, that it was unsafe.

The matters are scheduled for a filing hearing at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 25 September 2025.

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