OSH prosecution highlights need for construction project managers

Wednesday 26 May 2004

The companies carrying out refurbishment work on Radio New Zealand House on Wellington's Terrace last year were today fined a total of $11,000 after being prosecuted by the Occupational Safety and Health Service.

Enhance Property Management Limited and Property Link (Developments) Limited were sentenced in the Wellington District Court for failing to adequately manage or control the work being carried out at RNZ House over a period of months last year. Enhance Property Management was fined $3000 and Property Link (Developments) $8000.

OSH Wellington-Kapiti Service Manager Rob Scriven said a combination of factors meant the worksite was badly planned and managed, which resulted in a number of minor accidents, and also presented considerable risk to the tenants of the building.

OSH received at least 10 complaints for incidents ranging from unsafe work practices to a fence blowing over onto a passerby, and a woman who tripped over floor tiles when she was accessing the building.

Since OSH's intervention, the companies have acknowledged that they made errors and have remedied the situation to ensure these kinds of events don't happen again, Rob Scriven says.

"They are now engaging competent and experienced contractors and have also employed a project manager with a proven track record in the construction industry.

"A project manager is pivotal in any major construction project to ensure the safety of others is not compromised."

Rob Scriven says the case identifies the need for the need for planning and supervision by competent staff, the importance of engaging contractors with skills and experience in the work being contracted out, and the need for robust and adequate hazard isolation controls to keep members of the public away from construction areas.

"This prosecution highlights the need for companies to ensure that projects are managed appropriately in the future.
"Companies have an obligation to make their worksites safe, both for their workers and people in the vicinity."