Coronial inquest into death of Jorge Castillo-Riffo at new RAH worksite recommends spotters to be mandatory for scissor lifts
HAVING a spotter while Jorge Castillo-Riffo used a scissor lift on the new RAH construction site would have saved his life, his partner says, as a coronial inquest recommends spotters be instantly adopted on all worksites using such machinery.
ALL Australian workplaces should immediately adopt the use of spotters whenever machinery like scissor lifts are used, the partner of a worker who died during the construction of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital says.
Speaking outside court after State Coroner Mark Johns delivered his findings into the death of her defacto partner of 14 years, Jorge Castillo-Riffo, Pam Gurner-Hall called on all worksites to instantly implement his recommendation she believes would lead to a “significant difference to safety”.
“Having a spotter on site with every single elevated work platform, or a scissor lift, can be done right now so I’m calling on every builder, not only in this state, but right across Australia to implement that change from now,” she said.
“The reality is if there had been a spotter Jorge would still be alive.
“Working alone is not something that should be at all acceptable on any construction site and he was working alone.”
She hopes the recommendation becomes mandatory through legislation.
Mr Johns recommended that anyone working on an elevated work platform such as a scissor lift be accompanied by a spotter until controls on the machinery are standardised.
Currently two neighbouring machines on a worksite could have opposing controls.
The inquest heard previously that workers would swap scissor lifts, some of which had opposing controls — up on one would be down on another.
“While Australia continues to have a proliferation of scissor lifts with non-standard control configurations it is necessary to have a secondary safeguard,” Mr Johns said.
“In my opinion that necessitates the implementation of spotters.
“I therefore recommend that until the implementation of a system of effective standardisation of scissor-lift control configuration across the country, that scissor lifts not be operated unless there is a person on the ground operating as a spotter and who is available at all times to take steps to activate the emergency lowering mechanism should that be necessary.”
Mr Castillo-Riffo, 54, was working alone on a scissor lift completing patchwork at the new RAH when he was crushed between the scissor lift and a concrete slab almost four years ago on November 27, 2014. He died in hospital the next day.
His cause of death at autopsy was found to be hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.
A co-worker who found Mr Castillo-Riffo some time after he was crushed was unable to immediately lower him because the worker could not find the emergency release lever.
During the inquest, the court heard Mr Castillo-Riffo had raised safety concerns on the morning of his death and wasn’t found for up to 15 minutes by distraught colleagues because of a lack of spotters and no eyewitnesses.
Ms Gurner-Hall said Mr Castillo-Riffo had been worried about working on the scissor lift, expressing his concern the night before the incident.
She said the inquest had allowed her to “pass the baton” to Mr Johns to investigate what caused Mr Castillo-Riffo’s death.
“I’m done … there is just nothing else I could do. This was as good as I could do so I have to accept whatever it is that the Coroner has laid down and have the faith that he is doing as much as he can within the jurisdiction that he has,” she said.
She said the SafeWork SA investigation into the incident was “dismal”.
In his findings, Mr Johns was also critical of SafeWork SA’s investigation, labelling a reconstruction by an investigator with an expert witness as a “gross error” which “clearly should never have happened” and left the investigation to SA Police for six weeks while the principal investigator took leave.
“Without analysing the evidence of each of the inspectors in detail and I am content to merely record that I was not impressed by the SafeWork SA investigation as a whole,” he said.
He said it would be “undesirable” to make any recommendations while the Independent Commission Against Corruption was evaluating the safety watchdog, and would “raise the possibility of a conflict between the various recommendations”.
During the inquest, SafeWork SA witnesses told the court the 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
It also heard evidence from an accident forensics and investigation expert that it was impossible to determine exactly how he died “from the material available” because evidence from the scene was not gathered promptly or adequately.
Hansen Yuncken Leighton Contractors operations director Constantine Kerpiniodis had told the inquest the site was safe, despite the only risk control against overhead crushing was relying on Mr Castillo-Riffo not to make a mistake.
Ms Gurner-Hall has previously told The Advertiser she had not only lost the love of her life, but four years of her life and $300,00 in wages.
CFMEU national secretary David Noonan said HYLC had failed to provide a safe workplace for Mr Castillo-Riffo and welcomed the recommendation for spotters to be present while scissor lifts are used.
“The union will be going out demanding that this Coroner’s recommendation is implemented across Adelaide, across South Australia and across Australia,” he said.
“We need a situation where workers lives are put ahead of profits and deadlines.”
He praised Ms Gurner-Hall’s fight for justice.
“She has shown immense courage throughout this process in pursuing justice for Jorge,” he said.