Construction company’s fine doubled after hoarding collapse
24 July 2025•BlueSafe Team•Source: WorkSafe VIC
Lyons Construction’s fine has increased to $50,000 with a conviction following an appeal over a hoarding collapse in Geelong. The collapse damaged three parked vehicles and narrowly missed a pedestrian.
E.J. Lyons & Sons Pty Ltd, trading as Lyons Construction, pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to ensure people other than employees were not exposed to health and safety risks. In May 2025, the Geelong Magistrates’ Court fined the company $25,000 without conviction.
On Thursday 17 July, the Geelong County Court set aside that sentence following an appeal and imposed a $50,000 fine with conviction. Lyons Construction was also ordered to pay $6,289 in costs.
The court heard the company was the principal contractor for a multi-level construction project in Geelong’s CBD. It engaged separate subcontractors to erect scaffolding and hoarding at the front of the site.
In December 2021, the scaffolder raised concerns about hoarding attached to scaffolding that had not been designed or engineered to support it. The hoarding stayed in place for about a year despite the warning. When the scaffolding was removed in December 2022, further warnings from the subcontractor went unheeded and the hoarding was left unsecured, cantilevering upwards from its base.
During preparations for the end-of-year industry shutdown, 16 temporary mesh panels were dismantled and stored behind the hoarding. About a week later, a section measuring 20 metres long and 3.5 metres high fell, damaging three parked vehicles and narrowly missing a pedestrian.
WorkSafe’s investigation found the company had failed to ensure a qualified structural engineer designed the hoarding, that it was installed in accordance with engineering computations, and that it remained upright and stable at all times.
The court found it was reasonably practicable for Lyons Construction to implement safety measures for the hoarding. The company also failed to review and revise risk controls when new information became available.
WorkSafe Executive Director of Health and Safety Sam Jenkin said the company had ignored its duty-holder responsibility and left pedestrian safety to chance. “There are numerous safety measures that regulate the design and building of hoarding on construction sites to control the obvious risk of serious injury or death from incidents like this,” Mr Jenkin said. “People should be able to walk past a construction site and trust that it is up to legal standards and not posing a risk to their health and safety.”
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