Ten Gold Coast highrise building sites reprimanded for safety, compliance, licensing breaches

Ten Gold Coast high-rise developments have been reprimanded for breaching safety and licensing laws in a multi-agency blitz on the industry. And there’s more to come.

Generic highrise construction site. Photo: iStock

TEN Gold Coast high-rise developments and two other building sites have been reprimanded for breaching safety and licensing laws in a multi-agency blitz on the industry in the wake of a raft of serious incidents in the city.

The unnamed sites at Palm Beach, Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, Robina and Southport were slapped with actions ranging from warnings to show-cause and infringement notices for work that was deemed unsafe, illegal, unlicensed, and/or non-compliant.

Officers from the Queensland Building and Construction Commission, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland and Gold Coast City Council found problems at all 12 sites they raided in March, when they checked the licences of more than 300 workers.

Generic highrise construction site. Photo: iStock

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QBCC officers detected one allegedly unlicensed worker during licence checks, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of $32,637 for an individual or $163,186 for a company if it gets to court.

Plumbing inspectors conducted 35 checks of licensees and apprentices on sites, which resulted in two warnings for breaches of the Plumbing and Drainage Act.

WHSQ officers issued nine notices, while council inspectors determined temporary buildings at all 10 high-rise sites needed rectification work to comply with codes and standards.

Council inspectors have planned follow-up checks and also issued 10 infringement notices and 10 show-cause notices.

Brett Bassett, Commissioner for QLD Building and Construction Commission

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The blitz was part of a new State and Federal government push to ensure construction work within the high-growth corridor of the Gold Coast is compliant and safe after a series of serious injuries and near-misses.

Builder Multiplex was given strict licence conditions in December after three men were injured at the $1.4 billion Jewel development site.

Another worker was injured at the same site seven months earlier, barely escaping with his life after being crushed in an elevator shaft.

The men had been working in a confined space in the lower car park area of the Surfers Paradise development when a three-and-half-tonne metal cable conduit fell around three metres from above, crushing at least one of the men.

A crane cable snapped at a Chevron Island site on March 19, falling several storeys to the ground, while on March 7 a 500kg yellow hook fell 10 storeys on Bondi Avenue, Mermaid Beach, narrowly missing an elderly woman walking by.

Other agencies set to take part in the ongoing operations include the Electrical Safety Office, Work Cover Queensland, Q Leave, the Office of Fair Trading Queensland, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, and the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy.

QBCC Commissioner, Brett Bassett said he envisaged the compliance model could be rolled out beyond the Gold Coast if required.

“It’s great to see regulatory agencies working together on joint activities in the building and construction sector to help enhance industry compliance,” he said.