NJ Steel Fabrications Pty Ltd fined $40,000 after worker seriously injured on Geelong job site

A worker fractured his pelvis and suffered lacerations to his liver and kidney after falling almost 4m through a gap in the roof of a Geelong pizzeria.

A company has been fined after a worker was seriously injured on a Geelong job site. Picture: Mitch Bear

A worker fractured his pelvis and suffered bleeding on the brain after falling almost 4m through a gap in the roof at a job site in Geelong.

NJ Steel Fabrications Pty Ltd was fined $40,000 after pleading guilty in the Geelong Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to three charges of failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace and one charge of failing to provide information, instruction or training.

The business was convicted and also ordered to pay $8375 in costs.

Nandish Hassan Maheshwar and Jyothi Mallappa are listed as directors of the Melbourne-based company, according to Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents.

The court heard NJ Steel Fabrications was installing steel structures and plastic roof sheeting for an alfresco dining area at Wood Oven Pizza in January 2022.

Two workers were laying roof sheets when one of them fell 3.85m through a gap and landed on the ground.

He sustained serious, injuries including bleeding on the brain, a fractured pelvis, several fractured ribs, and lacerations to his liver and kidney.

WorkSafe inspectors attended the Roy St site and found there was no fall protection measures in place and none of the workers on site were trained or experienced to work at heights.

The business should have installed fall protection, such as guard railing and safety mesh, and provided training for its employees when working at heights, the court heard.

A month later, WorkSafe inspectors returned to the site and found the company’s director and another worker on the roof without fall prevention measures in place.

Within an hour of inspectors leaving the site, the director was again spotted working on the roof without adequate fall protection.

The court found NJ Steel Fabrication had failed to control the risk of a fall from height by affixing safety mesh to the entire roof area of the steel structure.

WorkSafe’s executive director of health and safety Sam Jenkin said the company’s “blatant disregard for the safety of workers was inexcusable”.

“It is no secret that there is simply no safe way to work from heights without the appropriate training and fall prevention measures in place,” he said.

“It beggars belief that this company still failed to install adequate controls to ensure the site was safe even after the risk had eventuated and a worker had suffered serious injuries.”

Originally published as NJ Steel Fabrications Pty Ltd fined $40,000 after worker seriously injured on Geelong job site