Latest news with #construction accident
CBS News
22-07-2025
- CBS News
1 dead after trench rescue at Baltimore County construction site
One person is dead after Baltimore County Fire crews were called for a trench rescue Tuesday morning at a construction site, officials said. Crews responded to the 9800 block of Lyons Mills Road in Owings Mills around 9:30 a.m. Once on the scene, officials found a person critically injured. While fire officials referred to the call as a "trench accident," the exact nature of the incident is currently unclear. A similar trench incident in Catonsville left two construction workers dead in February. The workers were trapped for nearly seven hours after a brick wall fell onto them as they were reinforcing it. They became trapped in a six-foot trench while in critical condition. Fire crews worked to support the trench to prevent the dirt from caving in before they were able to get the workers out. "It's a calculated method and it does take time, but they want to make sure that they are doing so in the safest measures," Baltimore County Fire Lt. Twana Allen said at the time. Following the seven-hour rescue effort, 24-year-old Emerson Amestica and 32-year-old Wilmer Barzallo were both pronounced dead. In October 2024, a similar rescue was carried out after a man fell 30 feet into a well in Catonsville. The man was rescued after nearly 24 hours in the confined space. Officials said he was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.
ABC News
14-07-2025
- ABC News
Perth builder CASM Construction fined $750,000 after worker injured
A Perth building company and its former director have been hit with significant fines after a fall at one of their sites left a worker with life-changing injuries. Terry Dunn was working as a carpenter on CASM Construction's site at Woottating, 65 kilometres east of Perth, on December 14, 2021 when he fell head-first 2.2 metres into an empty pool. Mr Dunn suffered a severe brain injury in the fall, requiring a lengthy stint in rehabilitation and leaving him unable to work. After an investigation, Worksafe charged CASM and former director Shane Alexander Lynn with work safety breaches, with both pleading guilty. In a sentencing hearing in the Northam Magistrates Court on Monday, Magistrate Sarah Oliver fined CASM, which has collapsed since the incident, $750,000, while Lynn was fined $45,000. Lynn was also granted a spent conviction. Magistrate Oliver acknowledged that with CASM currently in liquidation and Lynn bankrupt, it was unlikely either fine would be paid. The court heard Mr Dunn was discussing alfresco doors with another worker on site when he fell through a doorway and into the pool. He suffered a fractured skull, six broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken shoulder and considerable bruising. At the time of the incident, there were no barriers restricting access to the area, with scaffolding over the pool removed a month prior and not reinstalled. Mr Dunn was helped from the pool complaining of pain and appearing confused, and eventually taken to Royal Perth Hospital for treatment, where he underwent surgery for a bleed on the brain the following day. He was in the intensive care unit for 41 days before undertaking rehabilitation and being discharged nearly two months later. The court heard he continues to experience seizures, as well as neurological and cognitive difficulties. The State Solicitors Office said Lynn and his company failed to take measures to ensure the pool area was safe for workers and suggested edging protection, the reinstalling of scaffolding and locking the bi-fold doors could have eliminated the risk of Mr Dunn's injury. Lynn cried as he confirmed his guilty plea, telling Magistrate Oliver he was extremely remorseful for his actions and had been declared bankrupt as a result of the workplace incident. He told the court he had experienced significant mental health difficulties since the event, being hospitalised on several occasions. Magistrate Oliver told the court that no fine could reflect the impact the incident had on Mr Dunn and his loved ones. "The court is aware of the impact this incident had to Mr Dunn and his family," she said. "That day changed his life forever. "Sentencing will never fully reflect the human element of this case." Magistrate Oliver said she believed Lynn, as responsible person on the day, was truly remorseful for the lack of safety on site but that he had a duty to provide a safe workplace.
ABC News
14-07-2025
- ABC News
A man who died after falling from a scissor lift in Launceston had a 'mental lapse', a magistrate has found
A Tasmanian magistrate says a man who fell from a scissor lift to a his death had a "mental lapse", and has dismissed the company that contracted him of all but one safety charge. Gerard Dezoete died after he stepped off a raised scissor lift at a construction site in central Launceston on June 17, 2020. In a ruling, delivered in the Launceston Magistrates Court on Monday, Deputy Chief Magistrate Ken Stanton said he believed Mr Dezoete mistakenly thought he was at ground level. "Of course, when the scissor lift was being raised, Mr Dezoete must have been aware that was occurring," his decision read. "Nonetheless, as he later looked along the wall on which he had been working, he would have seen that the eaves were the same height above him as they had been when the scissor lift was at ground level. The ground would have appeared level. Chief Magistrate Stanton said the natural way to get off the scissor lift was to step backwards, and, in doing so, the scene Mr Dezoete saw would have been similar to when the scissor lift was not extended. "Such common lapses are a common part of everyday human experience. Unfortunately, as this case illustrates, sometimes they have disastrous consequences," he said. The charges of failing to comply with a health and safety duty category two and category three, failing to ensure a safe work method statement for proposed work was prepared, and failing to review a safe work method statement were all dismissed against Bisrey Pty Ltd, trading as RnB Painting, the company that contracted Mr Dezoete. But the chief magistrate found a charge of failing to ensure a safe work method statement was given to the principal contractor had been proven. While the painting and rendering business had been using extension ladders, the day before the fall, Tas City Buildings, which Bisrey was contracted to, advised there was a scissor lift available at the site for employees to use. Bisrey manager Liam Reynolds printed a generic safe work method statement (SWMS) for the machine and put it in his car, intending to take it to the worksite. But by the time he arrived, Mr Dezoete had already fallen. "Using the scissor lift was manifestly more convenient than using ladders … it would have appeared to be safer than using ladders. "I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Reynolds knew the scissor lift would be used when it was," chief magistrate's decision read. But he wrote that as an experienced tradesman, it would be "surprising" if Mr Dezoete had not worked extensively with scissor lifts before, that he likely knew how to operate one, and that it was appropriate for Bisrey to rely on his apparent knowledge and skills. The chief magistrate said even though providing a SWMS would have been unlikely to reduce the risk of falling from height, delivering one would have been a "simple, straightforward task with very little cost". "Mr Reynolds had prioritised other business activities over delivering it to the site and providing it," he said. Bisrey's defence lawyer, Greg Richardson, told the court neither the company, nor its director, had any prior convictions, and that the company had always been conscious of safety measures, calling the tragedy "a result of inadvertence". "You don't need a document to tell you not to step off an elevated platform," he told the court. The matter will return to court in late July for sentencing.
