A Perth court has fined national construction group Lendlease over a workplace safety breach during the $223.6 million redevelopment of the Campbell Barracks in Swanbourne.
A Perth court has fined national construction group Lendlease over a workplace safety breach during the $223.6 million redevelopment of the Campbell Barracks in Swanbourne.
Lendlease Group had been convicted and fined $100,000 over an incident that occurred during the Department of Defence’s redevelopment of Campbell Barracks in June 2017, which caused a worker to amputate a toe.
The federal government's work health and safety regulator Comcare launched an investigation into the incident where Lendlease Building Contractors was the principal contractor and O'Connor-based Kuredale Pty Ltd was a subcontractor.
Comcare said Kuredale workers were using a crane to lift a steel truss when it hit a section of a steel truss frame that was attached to a concrete slab.
“The truss frame, weighing close to 200kg, detached and fell – narrowly missing several workers – and landed on a worker’s foot, causing injuries that resulted in the amputation of a toe,” the regulator said.
“The injured worker was a bricklayer employed by another sub-contractor.”
Lendlease and subcontractor Kuredale were charged for breaching the federal Work Health and Safety Act.
“It was alleged they failed to implement an exclusion zone and provide adequate training, instruction and supervision to workers,” Comcare said in a statement.
Campbell Barracks has been the headquarters of the Australian Army's Special Air Service Regiment since 1957.
The redevelopment to upgrade the facility started in 2016 and the upgraded operations centre was opened in 2018. The estimated cost of the project was $223.6 million.
Comcare chief executive Greg Vines said Lendlease had been aware of ongoing issues relating to exclusion zones at the Perth defence site.
“There were persistent and serious failures in the maintenance and enforcement of exclusion zones, including incidents involving Kuredale,” he said.
“The risks to workers were significant and foreseeable.
“The incident would have been prevented by implementing the simple control of having an effective exclusion zone in place.”
Kuredale, trading as Metro Lintels, pleaded guilty to two counts and was convicted and fined $75,000 in October 2021.
Lendlease contested a single charge and was found guilty after a trial in the Perth Magistrates Court, before being sentenced on June 16.
A Lendlease spokesperson said the safety of its people and community remained its highest priority.
"We remain unrelenting in our pursuit to eliminate injury and incidents across our projects, and this means continually challenging our health and safety decisions," the spokesperson said.
Business News understands safety regime on the Campbell Barracks project was strong and adhered to after the incident.
Comcare said the charges were under Category 2 in the Work Health and Safety Act, carrying a maximum penalty of $1.5 million each.
All charges are Category 2 offences under the Work Health and Safety Act, carrying a maximum penalty of $1.5 million each.
