Gosford: Civil 1 Pty Ltd not guilty over scaffolding collapse on Mann St

A 60m length of scaffolding was left unsecured for more than a day before it toppled onto cars in high winds and sparking chaos, a court heard. Now it can finally be revealed what went wrong.

A scaffolding collapse, which crushed dozens of cars and left one woman with a head injury, was caused when it was left unsecured for more than a day before being blown over in high winds, a court has heard.

But the demolition contractor has been found not guilty of breaching health and safety laws because it was not “reasonably practical” to prevent the mishap.

SafeWork NSW took Civil 1 Pty Ltd to the NSW District Court where the demolition company pleaded not guilty to two counts of breaching its duty of care under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and one count of failing to comply with a prohibition notice.

It came after 21 bays, or a 60m-long section, of scaffolding toppled onto cars in Manns St, Gosford, about 3pm on August 19, 2020.

The scaffolding knocked over a light post, which in turn landed on a ute, while a woman waiting to cross the road was also struck in the back of the head by a metal pole but miraculously escaped serious injury.

Scaffolding has fallen on a number of cars in Gosford. Picture: Fiona Killman

After an eight-day trial Judge Andrew Scotting found Civil 1 not guilty of the two counts of breaching its duty of care but guilty of carrying out demolition works the following day after it was slapped with a prohibition notice.

The court heard Civil 1 was contracted to demolish nine buildings at 108-118 Mann St, on the corner of Donnison St, which included the old Union Hotel.

Scaffolding accident on Mann St in Gosford has seen eight cars and one ute crushed. Picture: Fiona Killman

It subcontracted 21st Century Building Services (21 CBS) to erect scaffolding around the site and dismantle it progressively as the buildings came down.

An agreed set of facts states 21 CBS staff arrived on August 18, 2020, to remove the rest of the scaffolding and hoarding but had to cease work when a Civil 1 excavator operator struck an underground power line.

“After a couple of hours, the scaffolders left for the day because it was expected to take some time to effect the repair,” Judge Scotting said.

“On 19 August 2020 the scaffolders did not return to the site because they were booked for other jobs. At about 3.00pm on 19 August 2020, 21 bays of the scaffolding measuring about 60m in length was blown over by the high winds that had been predicted for that day, injuring (a woman) and damaging a large number of vehicles parked on Mann St and assorted infrastructure.”

Scaffolding accident on Mann St in Gosford has seen eight cars and one ute crushed. Picture: Richard Noone

There is no suggestion 21 CBS did anything wrong and no charges were laid against the company.

The court heard the scaffolding, which had previously been tethered to the walls of the buildings being demolished, was left unsecured until it came crashing down with a gust of wind.

Scaffolding accident at a construction site in Mann St Gosford has seen one woman rushed to hospital with head injuries.

“The risk posed by the collapse of a scaffold was obvious and well known within the demolition industry,” Judge Scotting said.

“Further, the defendant knew that by reason of the state of the scaffold from the partial dismantling of it on 18 August 2020 that it was at risk of blowing over in high winds.”

However he said Civil 1 expected the scaffolding to be removed the day before and it wasn’t removed only because of the site being rendered unsafe by the electrical incident.

Judge Scotting said this “severely limited the ability of the defendant to take reasonably practical steps to stabilise the scaffold”.

He did find Civil 1 guilty of breaching a prohibition notice when it continued demolition works the day after the collapse.

Judge Scotting will sentence Civil 1 on that count on June 27.