Accident forensics export Dr Geoff Dell: ‘The cause of death of Jorge Castillo-Riffo will remain a mystery like disappearance of MH370’
THE fatal crushing of Royal Adelaide Hospital construction worker Jorge Castillo-Riffo is akin to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 — a mystery with no resolution, an inquest has heard.
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MYSTERY surrounding how RAH construction worker Jorge Castillo-Riffo was fatally crushed is akin to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 — we will just never know, an inquest has heard.
On Friday, Central Queensland University accident forensics and investigation expert Associate Professor Geoff Dell told the inquest it was impossible to determine exactly how he died “from the material available”.
He said the opportunity to get a better insight into the November 2014 death was lost because evidence at the scene was not gathered promptly or adequately.
Mr Castillo-Riffo, 54, was working alone on a scissor lift completing patchwork when he was crushed. He later died in hospital from his injuries.
The inquest heard that workers would swap scissor lifts, some of which had opposing controls – up on one would be down on another.
Dr Dell described that as a “recipe for human error”.
He said measurements were not taken so Mr Castillo-Riffo was forced to rely on photographs, which were “inadequate in terms of being able to establish the geometry of the scene”.
“Those things should have been verified at the time,” he said.
Dr Dell told the inquest that investigators had to assume the distance between the hand rail and the concrete slab, so it became an estimate of how much space Mr Castillo-Riffo was working in.
He said he had to work with “assumptions rather than hard facts”.
“That kind of forensic information that should have been gathered from the scene and followed up from … needed to have been done a lot better than it was,” he said.
“And since it wasn’t, I don’t think anyone will be able to say beyond any shadow of a doubt, what the circumstances were that led to him being trapped in the way that he was.
“We’re left pondering.
“It’s the industrial accident version of MH370 — we just don’t know.
“We can think of all the things that might have led to it, but without further evidence you can’t hang your hat on any particular version.”
He said he believed Mr Castillo-Riffo became distracted and was looking at something outside the scissor lift when he reached behind, intending to move the machine down, but accidentally moved it up.
This caused his head to become trapped between the rail and slab, he said.
“It says to me it happened quickly … and he was unable to reverse what he had done,” he said.
On Wednesday, the inquest was told Safework SA investigators were “unavailable” to attend the RAH construction site on the day Mr Castillo-Riffo died.
The court heard the state’s work safety watchdog had no investigators available to attend the site — the largest construction site in the state at the time — on the crucial first day, instead sending three inspectors.
The court heard principles of the “golden hour” — the time immediately after an incident to stabilise, photograph and gather evidence from a scene — were not adhered to during the investigation.
It also heard the accident scene was not preserved, police took most statements, the scissor lift was removed from the site and taken into a storage facility.
Blood was also cleared from the site.
Safework SA senior inspector Stacey Vinall, who was the fourth principal officer assigned to the investigation, told the court no-one had created an investigation plan as required by the safety watchdog.
“Some work had not been done that should have been done,” she said.
The inquest continues.
