Concrete boom collapse at the Kingston Foreshore

Today was scheduled as the start of the inquest into Ben’s death. This followed a directions hearing about 6 weeks ago.

Nothing on the local news.

Interesting that legal representatives of the pump’s manufacturer from both Australia and US were present at the directions hearing.

Do we have to attend these court sessions to hear the facts, or does the media still report on them?

Reading the various reports, I would suggest that this ‘well maintained’ concrete pump was not as expected.

Yes, it had recently been inspected. But there appears to be something wrong with the fasteners that held the gantry to the chassis.

New bolts incorrectly torqued? Old bolts re-used? New bolts of inferior quality?

The inspection was not apparently made locally. The certification was apparently made in Sydney, So a f**kup somewhere else has probably caused a local death.

Which means the local inspectors/OHS people and site personnel are in no way to blame for this death. This could not have been anticipated, or prevented.

Again, my condolences to the famies.

I am surprised that some people here think it is not normal for construction sites to be open on weekends. Also, the assumption that safety takes a day off on Saturday is just nonsense.
Due to the unrealistic deadlines to get these projects completed, 7 days a week is the only way to avoid hefty fines known as liquidated damages. Sometimes it is all the safety red tape that slows down a project to the point where everyone panics towards the end and starts to neglect filling out paperwork, doing inspections, having several hour long meetings to discuss the same issues over and over again. From personal experience, when the completion date is only days away, even the safety officers begin to overlook things because time is money and money is wasted on ridiculously over complicated procedures. There is common sense safety and then there is OH & S, worlds apart in my opinion. Anyone here who would like to start pointing blame at different tiers of the organizations involved should spend a couple of hours in the middle of a construction site and see for themselves how ridiculously difficult it is to even step foot onto the deck of a concrete pour.
No doubt this project will be shut down pending full inquiry, adding to the delays already faced by everyone involved. As soon as it’s open again, everyone will be double timing to catch up. More weekend work and extra hours for everyone.

HenryBG said :

I-filed said :

screaming banshee said :

gooterz said :

Lots of people are responsible for safety if people are seriously hurt then someone is to blame.

It is entirely possible to experience an unforeseen mechanical/structural failure, despite having the most rigorous of engineering, safety inspections, and maintenance in place.

.

Are you a Katie Gallagher adviser by any chance? AS IF it isn’t possible to secure a concrete pour so equipment won’t kill a worker. Sheesh!

In fact, safety procedures should be such that no accident can occur without multiple simultaneous failures occurring.

I have done a couple of OH&S type courses both in the military and construction and it has been shown that every accident has a chain of events leading up to it. Removing a link or links from the chain will decrease or eliminate the accident.
The trouble is seeing the links click into place BEFORE the accident..

I-filed said :

screaming banshee said :

gooterz said :

Lots of people are responsible for safety if people are seriously hurt then someone is to blame.

It is entirely possible to experience an unforeseen mechanical/structural failure, despite having the most rigorous of engineering, safety inspections, and maintenance in place.

.

Are you a Katie Gallagher adviser by any chance? AS IF it isn’t possible to secure a concrete pour so equipment won’t kill a worker. Sheesh!

In fact, safety procedures should be such that no accident can occur without multiple simultaneous failures occurring.

screaming banshee said :

gooterz said :

Lots of people are responsible for safety if people are seriously hurt then someone is to blame.

It is entirely possible to experience an unforeseen mechanical/structural failure, despite having the most rigorous of engineering, safety inspections, and maintenance in place.

.

Are you a Katie Gallagher adviser by any chance? AS IF it isn’t possible to secure a concrete pour so equipment won’t kill a worker. Sheesh!

screaming banshee said :

It is entirely possible to experience an unforeseen mechanical/structural failure, despite having the most rigorous of engineering, safety inspections, and maintenance in place.

Rather than pointing the finger and speculating how about waiting until the incident has been investigated.

Well said.

Thoughts are with the family/friends/colleagues of the young man who lost his life yesterday.

gooterz said :

screaming banshee said :

gooterz said :

Lots of people are responsible for safety if people are seriously hurt then someone is to blame.

It is entirely possible to experience an unforeseen mechanical/structural failure, despite having the most rigorous of engineering, safety inspections, and maintenance in place.

Rather than pointing the finger and speculating how about waiting until the incident has been investigated.

By the same token that your just blaming the equipment, i was just drawing attention to the fact that weekend construction work is rather unusual and would have more dangers because of the ‘regular’ staff and workers wouldnt be there.
This investigation is likely to take a very long time and nothing will be heard about it until its finished most likely. So your happy that nothing will be done about this until the final report comes out. Yet I would rather they be pro-active so a similar thing doesnt happen in the mean time.

More likely you just feel like attacking people on the internet with your keyboard

I work in Commercial Construction and can advise that working on Saturdays is common in this industry. In fact we operate every Saturday except for when inclement weather prevents us from doing so. Most construction companies work hard to engender a ‘culture of safety’ which means that both senior management and individual employees are jointly responsible for safe work practices rather than one “guy in charge of safety”. I agree with Screaming Banshee that premature speculation and assumptions about standard industry practices is neither helpful nor sensitive.
The most recent news report indeed suggests that mechanical failure was a major contributing factor to this particular incident.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/aftermath-of-a-worksite-tragedy-20120721-22gf6.html

gooterz said :

screaming banshee said :

gooterz said :

Lots of people are responsible for safety if people are seriously hurt then someone is to blame.

It is entirely possible to experience an unforeseen mechanical/structural failure, despite having the most rigorous of engineering, safety inspections, and maintenance in place.

Rather than pointing the finger and speculating how about waiting until the incident has been investigated.

By the same token that your just blaming the equipment, i was just drawing attention to the fact that weekend construction work is rather unusual and would have more dangers because of the ‘regular’ staff and workers wouldnt be there.
This investigation is likely to take a very long time and nothing will be heard about it until its finished most likely. So your happy that nothing will be done about this until the final report comes out. Yet I would rather they be pro-active so a similar thing doesnt happen in the mean time.

More likely you just feel like attacking people on the internet with your keyboard

You really don’t know anything. Some times it feels like Canberra people look down on the blue collar workers and whenever something goes wrong they jump on the blame train and try to point out poor work attitudes, incompetency etc These guys are good operators and we you are operating a boom with the danger of knocking people over, wasting mix etc they take it seriously. A boom collapsed, I dont know how the hell a stupid OHS officer, high vis shirt, steel caps or a hard hat could of prevented that.

gooterz said :

screaming banshee said :

gooterz said :

Lots of people are responsible for safety if people are seriously hurt then someone is to blame.

It is entirely possible to experience an unforeseen mechanical/structural failure, despite having the most rigorous of engineering, safety inspections, and maintenance in place.

Rather than pointing the finger and speculating how about waiting until the incident has been investigated.

By the same token that your just blaming the equipment, i was just drawing attention to the fact that weekend construction work is rather unusual and would have more dangers because of the ‘regular’ staff and workers wouldnt be there.
This investigation is likely to take a very long time and nothing will be heard about it until its finished most likely. So your happy that nothing will be done about this until the final report comes out. Yet I would rather they be pro-active so a similar thing doesnt happen in the mean time.

More likely you just feel like attacking people on the internet with your keyboard

Gooterz, this is not an attack on you. This is a statement of the obvious. You clearly have no idea about any facet of the construction industry in Australia. It is very common for construction jobs to run 6 days a week and Saturday pours are run of the mill, business as usual and in some cases preferrable due to traffic conditions. In most organisations, the QA and safety people will still be there on the saturday too, particularly if an important activity is planned for that day.

Now, a bloke has died at work. That is totally f***ed up and horrible. No one who worked with him, under him, or above him in the organisation would have wanted this. I hope fervently that the investigation determines the root cause and that processes are put in place to prevent a life being lost in the same cirumstances ever again. Given the total lack of publicly available information on the incident, I won’t comment on the cause. I merely offer my sincere condolences to the family of the lad, and urge any member of the worksafe team reading this to do their utmost to find the cause, so that this tragedy need never be repeated.