New RAH worksite victim Jorge Castillo-Riffo’s partner Pam Gurner-Hall wants justice for his death one year ago

AFTER the toughest year of her life, Pam Gurner-Hall will return to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital site to lead a memorial for the death of her long-term partner Jorge Castillo-Riffo.

AFTER the toughest year of her life, Pam Gurner-Hall will return to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital site to lead a memorial for the death of her long-term partner Jorge Castillo-Riffo.

She will return to the site from 6am to hand out flowers to workers to replicate the makeshift memorial to mark the anniversary of the workplace incident which claimed his life.

Mr Castillo-Riffo was working on a scissor-lift at the site when he was crushed against concrete, suffering fatal injuries on November 27, 2014. He died in hospital the next day.

Ms Gurner-Hall is calling for an inquest into the death of her partner of 14 years, saying she wants the circumstances surrounding his death and safety standards in the construction industry including the casualisation of the workforce and use of scissor lifts thoroughly investigated.

“There isn’t any real justice for Jorge. I can’t turn back the clock, I can’t bring him back … he didn’t stand a chance.

“He had a snowball’s chance in hell. He really did. There was just no way he could go to work in that situation on that day and come home.

Ms Gurner-Hall hopes for four things: clarity, transparency, accountability and legacy.

“There has to be accountability. There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. This isn’t someone smashing their toe, this isn’t a broken arm.

“This is a death. A death. I still struggle with the whole concept, that it was Jorge.”

SafeWork SA have laid charges against Hansen Yuncken, Leighton Contractors and Structural Systems (Southern), alleging they failed to comply with health and safety regulations to provide a safe working environment.

Each faces a $300,000 fine.

“SafeWork SA investigates in a silo of parameters, they’re looking at legislation, regulation and breaches of acts if you like,” Ms Gurner-Hall said.

She believes a Coronial inquest would be able to more thoroughly investigate, and provide stringent recommendations.

Most of all, Ms Gurner-Hall hopes it never happens again, and the standards for use of a scissor lift changes.

“There’s no standardisation … there’s no barrier to stop you from getting squashed against the roof. There’s no cage.

“In India, there is less deaths on scissor lifts because they’ve got one single steel pole that sits up behind them and makes sure they can’t get squashed under a roof.

“It’s as simple as that. Had that been on the scissor lift, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

A spokeswoman for the Coroner said no comment would be made while the incident was still being investigated.