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Month: February 2020

Australian scaffolding industry put on notice

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BySM Newsdesk

New data has revealed that nearly half of all construction sites in New South Wales (NSW) have non-compliant scaffolding.

The NSW government has put the industry on ‘notice’ after a safety blitz on more than 700 building sites by SafeWorkNSW.

Inspectors shockingly discovered that 44 per cent of scaffolds had missing components, while 36 per cent of scaffolds had been altered by unlicensed workers or removed components.

Since the tragic death in April of Christopher Cassaniti a teenage apprentice who was crushed to death in a scaffolding collapse, SafeWorkNSW has been targeting unsafe scaffolds.

To date the government agency has handed out 832 notices, including $109,000 (£59,512) on-the-spot fines.

Ms Cassaniti has become a workplace safety advocate since her son’s death and said change could not come quickly enough.

“To me it is not surprising to find that the statistics have come back so bad,” she said.

“I heard the workers complain a lot when they are on site and in dangerous situations.”

She said she did not want her son to become “another statistic”.

“Scaffolders put their scaffolds up, they tag it and then the workers go and use the scaffolding but some remove parts they should not, just to get the job done quickly,” Ms Cassaniti told ABC News.

NSW Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation Kevin Anderson said: “It is clear that more needs to be done to get the safety message through to people, which is why this month the NSW Government will be rolling out a number of new initiatives which aim to protect workers from serious injury or death.”

The Scaffshield team recently installed our system at a project in Sydney CBD for Probuild Constructions

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The Scaffshield team recently installed our system at a project in Sydney CBD for Probuild Constructions to assist with securing scaffold ties that were supporting large elevations of scaffold adjacent to busy Sydney streets. Probuild approached Scaffshield to provide an engineered control to stop unauthorised removal, modification and tampering of this critical temporary structure. It is very impressive to see Probuild Constructions proactive approach to continual improvement regarding WHS in their business.

Scaffshield has been submitted for a ‘Innovation of The Year’ award for the Australian Construction Awards 2020.

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Designed to reduce the incidence of scaffold collapse, Scaffshield aims to make construction sites safer across Australia by eliminating unauthorised modification and tampering with critical scaffold components, Please take a moment to vote for us by following the link below; https://lnkd.in/gmfZXxz

Installation for Built. at their Substation project on Kent St Sydney CBD

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The Scaffshield team completed installation and training for the Built. team at their Substation Project on Kent Street in Sydney CBD this morning. It was great receiving positive feedback from both the project team and the scaffolders on the ground each day. They now know that their scaffolder will be safer as a result of Scaffshield being installed. The management team on this project can also have peace of mind knowing that their scaffold ties cannot be tampered with by unauthorised individuals. If you want an engineered control to stop scaffold tampering please contact us at info@scaffshield.com or call 1300 869 572.

Almost half of NSW building sites have dodgy scaffolding, new data reveals

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Originally published by Danuta Kozaki on abc.net.au

A mother of a Sydney apprentice who died in a scaffolding collapse says she is not surprised by new data which shows almost half of the construction sites in NSW have non-compliant rigging.

Christopher Cassaniti, 18, was crushed to death when the scaffold he was working on at a Macquarie Park building site came down in April.

The NSW Government said the construction industry had been put on notice after a blitz on more than 700 building sites by SafeWork NSW.

About 44 per cent of the scaffolding on them had parts missing, while unlicensed workers had altered or removed scaffolding components on 36 per cent of sites.

The Minister for Better Regulation Kevin Anderson said Mr Cassaniti’s death sparked the latest review.

“One injury is too many, one death is too many so we are doing everything we possibly can,” he said.

“We will be tightening laws, we will be coming after those that are doing the wrong thing.”

Sydney has more ongoing construction than any other major city in Australia, with twice as many cranes operating in the NSW capital than Melbourne, according to the 2018 National Crane Index.

Ms Cassaniti has become a workplace safety advocate since her son’s death and said change could not come quickly enough.

“To me it is not surprising to find that the statistics have come back so bad,” she said.

“I heard the workers complain a lot when they are on site and in dangerous situations.”

She said she did not want her son to become “another statistic”.

“Scaffolders put their scaffolds up, they tag it and then the workers go and use the scaffolding but some remove parts they should not, just to get the job done quickly,” Ms Cassaniti said.

Mr Anderson said an alarming rate of unsafe practices were found, including 84 immediate fines for scaffolding breaches during the audit period.

“It is totally reckless behaviour to put anyone’s life at risk. We will be cracking down. If you do the wrong thing, if you do something wrong you will face the toughest penalties,” he said.

The Shadow Minister for Consumer Protection, Julia Finn, said it was concerning it took Mr Cassaniti’s death to take scaffolding breaches seriously.

“The State Government has committed to strengthening the laws which is a good thing but in the meantime they have not been using the laws they have and doing more inspections and prosecutions,” she said.

Ms Cassaniti is formally launching her foundation set up in honour of her son this weekend.