$400,000 fine after scaffold tower kills volunteer at sports complex

The company was sentenced in its absence by Magistrate Joseph Pinder in Brisbane Magistrates Court on 16 August 2024. It had been charged in July 2023 with failing to comply with its primary health and safety duty and exposing an individual to a risk of death or serious injury. After entering liquidation in February 2024, it declined to participate further in the proceedings.

Mitchelton Sports Club engaged the company in April 2021 to supply and install a scaffold tower as a filming platform at Teralba Park Sports Complex. On 13 April, a worker installed a 2.4-metre Oldfields Pro Series Aluminium Mobile Tower Scaffold between fields one and two. The club did not request, and the company did not provide, information, training or instruction about its safe use and storage.

On 25 July 2021, the father of a player in an under-15s football match was volunteering as a ground official. He was watching the game from outside the perimeter fence, about two metres in front of the tower. At about 12.30 pm, a strong wind gust destabilised the scaffold, which fell onto him and caused fatal injuries.

The tower was found not to have been adequately constructed or secured to withstand the wind speeds it encountered. The court also heard that the company had supplied a scaffold tower for the same purpose between February and September 2020.

Magistrate Pinder found that the company should have considered risks associated with the tower’s location, including exposure to wind and other weather events and the presence of members of the public nearby. He said the tower posed a clear risk to the public and that some reasonably practicable measures could easily have been taken at minimal cost.

The magistrate found the company’s conduct reflected a cavalier approach to its work health and safety obligations and placed its seriousness at the highest end. He was also satisfied that the company had entered liquidation in response to the charges.

In considering the penalty, Magistrate Pinder took account of victim impact statements from the family of the 37-year-old man. He noted that the breach had resulted in the worst possible outcome and found that, despite the company’s absence and liquidation, a fine was warranted to deter others. He also considered a conviction appropriate.

A Mobile Scaffolds Queensland worker was due to face further prosecution over the matter in October. Workplace Health and Safety Queensland was also targeting scaffolding issues through a construction compliance blitz across the state.

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